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Penn State Football Recruiting

Top Penn State Target Derrick Davis Sets Decision Date

Gateway's Derrick Davis - Jared Todhunter/PSN

Another one of the Western Pennsylvania’s top players in the Class of 2021 plans on making his college decision in the near future.

Four-star Gateway athlete Derrick Davis tells Pittsburgh Sports Now that he plans on making his much anticipated college decision on November 14. Davis is ranked by both Rivals and 247 Sports as one of the Top 100 players in the Class of 2021.

Because of the current climate surrounding recruiting and COVID-19, Davis has not had the luxury of making any official visits.

So which school will Davis select?

Speculation is that both Penn State and Ohio State are very high, if not at the top of his list, with Penn State as the favorite. In fact, 90% of the recruiting experts from 247 Sports are forecasting Davis to select the Nittany Lions. However, Georgia, LSU, Clemson and Pitt are also still believed to be in the running for this highly coveted player.

Although Davis has not been able to visit most of the schools that have offered him, that hasn’t been the case for Penn State. Davis has made at least 9 unofficial visits to State College, by far, the most visits he’s made. Credit Nittany Lion assistant and ace Western Pennsylvania recruiter Terry Smith for taking the recruiting lead on Davis. Smith was the head coach at Gateway High School before taking the job at Penn State and the connection between the two schools has remained strong.

While Pitt is viewed and are probably a longshot for Davis, they have two things going for them. First, they already received commitments from three local 2021 WPIAL defensive stars in Central Catholic’s Elliot Donald, West Mifflin’s Nahki Johnson and Baldwin’s Dorien Ford. Secondly, when Davis reduced his long list of offers down to seven schools back in July, the Gateway star had this to say to PSN about the draw of staying home and playing with guys like Donald, Johnson and Ford.

“That does catch my eye because the game of football isn’t a one man sport it’s a team sport,” said Davis. “For me, if Pitt is able to get those guys that would be a heck of a big deal. That would be really cool, to potentially play with three, four local kids like that. We’ve always had the dream of making it to the top, so yeah, that would be a really cool thing.”

Penn State currently has 13 commitments in their Class of 2021, which is currently ranked 40th by Rivals and 35th by 247 Sports. Their last commitment came from 4-star linebacker Jamari Buddin from Belleville, Michigan back on July 17.

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