One of Penn State football’s receiver targets from the Class of 2024 has committed to the University of Florida.
Jerrae “Tank” Hawkins Jr., a four-star WR from Florida’s famous IMG Academy, announced Monday afternoon that he’s committing to Florida over finalists Penn State and Miami, among other schools.
BREAKING: Four-Star WR Jerrae “Tank” Hawkins tells me he has Committed to Florida!
The 5’9 168 WR from Fredericksburg, VA chose the Gators over Miami and Penn State
“I want to be in the SEC with best.”https://t.co/6Fgv5bSsBn pic.twitter.com/M3C057dApO
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) June 26, 2023
Despite losing out on Hawkins, PSU and receivers coach Marques Hagans have had a solid recruiting week. In the past six days, three ’24 receivers have announced their commitments to Penn State. This past Tuesday, four-star in-state WR Tyseer Denmark announced his commitment two days after he announced his de-commitment from Oregon. Then, last Friday night at almost the same time of the evening, four-star Josiah Brown (Hicksville, New York) and three-star Peter Gonzalez (Pittsburgh) announced their commitments.
Hawkins is fast. His speed led him to become West Virginia’s AAA state track meet champion in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes as a sophomore and Florida indoor state champion in the 60m dash. A message from IMG’s sprint coach, Dwight Thomas, eventually led him to leave Wheeling Park High School in West Virginia for IMG.
His speed has also helped make him a quality football player.
Last season, Hawkins- originally from Fredericksburg but moved to West Virginia before his freshman year- had 1,127 yards and 14 touchdowns for Wheeling Park. That production has played a big part in his four-star rating.
PSU only signed one receiver— four-star Carmelo Taylor— to its ’23 Class, so there’s still likely room to add to the Class of ’24. Nick Marsh, a four-star from Michigan’s River Rouge High School, went on his official visit to Penn State the weekend of June 9, and 247Sports’ Crystal Ball projection, placed by Penn State insider Tyler Calvaruso, has him picking Penn State.
