Penn State Football

Penn State Lands Heavy Transfer Portal WR Target Julian Fleming

Joe Smeltzer

Published

January 3, 2024

Photo from Julian Fleming Twitter

It’s finally happened: Penn State has landed former Ohio State WR Julian Fleming out of the transfer portal.

Fleming has been projected to commit to Penn State for weeks.

Now, according to Hayes Fawcett of On3Sports, it’s finally official.

BREAKING: Ohio State transfer WR Julian Fleming has committed to Penn State, per @Hayesfawcett3.

He was the No. 3 recruit in the 2020 class👀https://t.co/FwtBzeRfwj pic.twitter.com/pJgmYgOy5q

— On3 (@On3sports) January 3, 2024

Fleming has been on Penn State’s radar for years.

He was a five-star, in-state prospect from Southern Columbia High School, located roughly an hour and a half from State College. Penn State was firmly in the mix. But Fleming eventually signed to Ohio State’s 2020 class. Through four seasons in Columbus, Fleming didn’t put up the numbers many expected. This was largely due to being in a receivers room included players such as Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr., just to name a few.

So on the first day the transfer portal opened last month, Fleming entered. Many immediately wondered if Penn State would be the place.

Since mid-December, multiple insider projections had Fleming coming to Happy Valley.

On3Sports’ prediction machine has Fleming going to Penn State.

Over at 247Sports, insiders Brian Dohn and Chris Hunter placed Crystal Ball projections a minute apart Thursday, Dec. 15.

For a little, it looked like Fleming would be coming to a Big Ten school that isn’t Penn State from the transfer portal.

Nebraska hosted him for an official visit earlier this week along with Fleming’s most recent QB at Ohio State, Kyle McCord.

Neither player ended up committing to Nebraska.

Although Fleming didn’t become the superstar many expected him to be at Ohio State— he never had more than 533 yards in a season— he’d still be a big addition. The WR room was generally thought to be the biggest weakness during Penn State’s 2023 regular season. Aside from KeAndre Lambert-Smith (53 catches, 673 yards, four TD), no Penn State WR had more than 246 yards. But Penn State’s had quality options at receiver throughout the James Franklin era. Players such as Chris Godwin, Jahan Dotson and KJ Hamler all became high-round NFL draft picks.

Penn State is also losing Dante Cephas to the portal, which broke hours before the Fleming news.