In recruiting news, Penn State is in the top eight for 2024 RB Rod Gainey Jr., Gainey announced via Twitter Tuesday afternoon.
WHERE IS HOME???🏡 pic.twitter.com/PzFRSt39qh
— Rod Gainey jr (@rodgainey2) January 31, 2023
Coach James Franklin’s program is in the mix. Penn State is there Central Florida, Florida, Indiana, Louisville, Maryland, Mississippi State and West Virginia. Penn State was the first DI school to offer Gainey. It extended the offer in November 2020.
Gainey’s a 5-foot-11, 180-pounder from Tampa Bay Tech High School in Florida. He’s also a three-star and the No. 81 player in Florida according to Rivals.com.
He ran for 1,518 yards, averaged 9.6 yards per carry and scored 17 touchdowns. He has 16 total offers according to Rivals, from schools such as Colorado, Georgia Tech, Grambling State, Florida A&M and South Florida in addition to the places in his top eight.
When breaking down his options with Rivals.com, Gainey called Penn State a “real powerhouse running the ball.”
”That’s the type of team I wanna play for,” he said.
Indeed, Penn State has returned to having a “powerhouse” ground game. This is thanks to Nick Singleton (1,061 yards, 6.8 YPC, 12 TD) and Kaytron Allen (867 yards, 5.2 YPC, 10 TD) who each had fantastic true freshman seasons. Penn State has two more backs coming in from the 2023 Class: four-star London Montgomery (Scranton, Pennsylvania) and three-star Cam Wallace (Mt. Vernon, Georgia). Gainey visited Central Florida this weekend and doesn’t yet have any visits planned for the future. Penn State currently has two players committed to it’s Class of 2024. Those are four-star OL Cooper Cousins (McDowell High School) and LB Anthony Speca (Pittsburgh Central Catholic. If Gainey picks Penn State, he’d be the first running back committed to Penn State’s Class of ‘24.
It’s worth noting that the man who’d be Gainey’s position coach at Penn State, Ja’Juan Seider, has developed a reputation as an ace in recruiting. Seider also has a presence in Florida. He coached high school football in the state for seven seasons and spent the 2017 season as the University of Florida’s running backs coach.
