Quarterback Marcus Stokes, a junior at Nease High School in Ponte Verde Beach, Florida, who committed to Penn State last month, will have his official visit to Happy Valley the dates of June 10-12.
Official visit set! June 10-12 I’ll be back in happy valley💙🦁 @PennStateFball
— Marcus “JOKER” Stokes🃏🥷 (@marcusstokes06) May 20, 2022
Stokes, a 6-foot-2, 185-pounder who is a four-star according to 247Sports’ site rankings, committed to Penn State in late April, the first quarterback to join coach James Franklin’s 2023 class.
Hours after committing to Penn State, he publicly shut down his recruitment on social media.
Stokes put up more than 3,100 yards of total offense for Nease this past season and accounted for 28 touchdowns, helping Nease to an appearance in the Class 7A Regional Final.
A big reason Stokes committed, his head coach, Collin Drafts, told Nittany Sports Now back in April, was Penn State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Mike Yurcich.
Yurcich and Penn State landed Stokes even with the program having two quarterbacks— five-star Drew Allar and three star Beau Pribula— signed to its 2022 class.
“He always felt super comfortable with him from day one,” Drafts said. “Penn State was his first power five offer, and it was really before Marcus had kind of blown up, you know, and so I think that means a lot to him. With (Yurcich) saying like, ‘hey, we don’t care what he’s ranked right now, what other offers he has at the moment, we think he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the country. At the time, Marcus didn’t have all the attention that he has now. I think that meant a lot to him.”
Stokes is one of 12 players committed to Penn State’s 2023 class, and Drafts sees him becoming quite popular with the fanbase when he gets to Happy Valley.
“I can easily see him end up being a fan favorite,” Drafts said. “He has a great heart. He means well. He’s going to be a great teammate, a hard worker, and an electric player on the field.”
