In recruiting news, Penn State football has had a big week in gaining commitments, starting it by getting one from four-star receiver Yazeed Haynes and ending it with one from three-star defensive lineman Tyriq Blanding.
This weekend and the week ahead could bring more good recruiting news and commitments for Penn State and its fans.
A pair of 2023 recruits had 247Sports.com crystal ball projections placed this week, and every prediction had them committing to Penn State.
London Montgomery, a three-star running back from Scranton Prep High School, and King Mack, a four-star safety from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, are two players who look like they could be Penn State commits soon.
Both are on official visits to Penn State this weekend.
Here’s what a commitment from each of them could mean for Penn State’s 2023 class and, subsequently, the program’s future.
WHAT A LONDON MONTGOMERY COMMITMENT COULD MEAN FOR PENN STATE
Penn State offered Montgomery back in March.
Growing up in Pennsylvania, Montgomery has long been interested in Penn State football.
“My grandma actually liked Penn State,” he told Nittany Sports Now not long after the offer, “so I was a big Penn State fan. I didn’t go to any games or anything, but I used to watch as a little kid. I always dreamed of getting an offer from Penn State, so it was definitely a blessing.”
Now, it looks like Montgomery might accept.
All three crystal balls, placed Friday, have Montgomery picking Penn State.
If those predictions come true, what type of player could Penn State be getting in 2023?
“I’m definitely agile,” Montgomery told Nittany Sports Now in March. “I can make cuts without losing speed. I think I have a really high balance for myself.”
As a junior, Montgomery (5-foot-11, 190 pounds) rushed for 2,356 yards and 36 touchdowns on 194 carries, good for a 12.1 yards per carry average.
Yeah, that’s pretty good.
Penn State currently doesn’t have a running back committed to its 2023 class, and although five-star Nick Singleton and four-star Kaytron Allen are both with the team from the previous recruiting class, it can’t hurt to add talented runners. Montgomery fits the mold.
WHAT A KING MACK COMMITMENT COULD MEAN FOR PENN STATE
Even without knowing anything else about Mack, Penn State fans should be interested in him because of where he goes to high school.
Mack attends St. Thomas Aquinas in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, the same school as Conrad Hussey, a four-star safety who committed to Penn State’s 2023 class in April.
Both helped the school to a state championship in 2021
Most important, however, is that Mack can play. He’s a four-star according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, which is a status Hussey didn’t attain until after he committed.
All four of 247’s “crystal ball” projections have him picking Penn State, and three of them were placed between June 16 and 17, leading into Mack’s official visit.
In his scouting report of Mack, 247’s Southeast Recruiting Analyst Andrew Ivins described him as “the football version of a five-tool center fielder.”
Ivins wrote that Mack (5-foot-10, 175 pounds) “lacks the ideal height/weight combo, but makes up for his smaller frame with his speed, instincts, ball skills, physicality and leadership qualities.”
“As a junior,” Ivins wrote, “(Mack) worked mostly out of a two-deep safety look and thrived, picking off four passes for a storied St. Thomas Aquinas program, which captured a state title in Florida’s second-highest classification. Ability to get to the deeper third of the field or from hash to hash in the snap of a finger is rare.”
To have two four-star safeties in its 2023 class is something any program would want, and both coming from the same high school would be a bonus.
