The first player to commit to Penn State football’s 2024 recruiting class is now a five-star.
Cooper Cousins, an in-state product from McDowell High School, committed to Penn State in January 2022, almost a full year before the program got its next commit.
🚨NEW🚨 Penn State IOL signee Cooper Cousins ranks No. 27 and five-stars in the final 2024 On300🦁https://t.co/BjMcyPXWfq pic.twitter.com/Ky8b2yGXPW
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) January 29, 2024
Cousins is listed as 6-foot-6 and 323 pounds and is capable of playing on either the insider or outside, but is listed as an interior lineman.
In On3Sports’ final On300 rankings for the 2024 recruiting cycle, Cousins is a five-star and the No. 27 overall player in the country. This is a significant rise for Cousins, who was No. 110 in the previous rankings.
Cousins has started his Penn State journey, being on of the program’s 16 early enrollees. His new coach, James Franklin, recalled during his post-signing day presser that Cousins knew where he wanted to go a long time ago.
“He also was, really what I could say about a lot of these guys, he was a high production, highly rated guy who was low maintenance,” Franklin said. “I mean literally we offered him, they all looked at us, the whole family, you walked around the corner… I think we did this, I want to say it was maybe during COVID or somewhere around that time, because I think we were meeting outside. I’m trying to remember. And he walked away and came back like four minutes later and said, ‘We’re coming.’ And that was the end of it.”
On3’s Keegan Pope describes Cousins as a “big, physical offensive lineman with the skills and potential versatility to be a game-changer along the interior.”
“Measured in at north of 6-foot-6 and around 305 pounds prior to his senior season,” Pope wrote. “Has solid length for an interior offensive lineman with arms over 33 inches. Has a rock solid build without much bad weight. Has seen significant action as a high school center and enters college with advanced skills for the position. A weapon in the run game. Overwhelms smaller defensive linemen at the point of attack. Has good bend and flexibility that he uses to get underneath defenders.”
