Penn State football is one of the most visible and successful programs in the nation and with such notoriety, the PSU coaching staff can confidently recruit any player in the country.
Being able to do that means that Penn State should have tremendous success recruiting the best players in the state of Pennsylvania.
Keeping the best players home is an annual debate, as is the question of how important it is to sign the top in-state players. An argument can be made that some of the top three-star players in states such as Florida, Georgia, Texas and California could be more important to land than some of the top Pennsylvania players.
Those are debates for another day, but this topic became relevant today because one of the top Pennsylvania players signed elsewhere, which continued a bad trend for Penn State.
2025 Southern Lehigh High School four-star tight end Andrew Olesh announced on Monday night his decision to commit to Michigan over Penn State and Alabama.
In Rivals.com list of top players in Pennsylvania, Olesh is rated No. 8.
While it’s too early to get worried if you’re a Penn State fan, it is something to acknowledge and keep and monitor in the coming months.
Looking at this from a glass half full perspective, Penn State has been able to land four of the Top 10 Pennsylvania 2025 prospects. On the half empty side, five of the top six Pennsylvania players decided to commit elsewhere despite being heavily pursued by Penn State.
Penn State’s Quinton Martin
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.If you look back at the Class of 2024, Penn State signed the top two Pennsylvania players in four-star OG Cooper Cousins and 4-star athlete Quinton Martin. But aside from those two, the next top five rated recruits signed elsewhere.
RIVALS TOP 15 PROSPECTS IN PENNSYLVANIA FOR CLASS OF 2025
- Zahir Mathis, 4-star DE (Philadelphia). Committed to Ohio State.
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Matt Zollers, 4-star QB (Royersford). Committed to Missouri.
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Anthony Sacca, 4-star LB (Philadelphia). Committed to Notre Dame.
4. Jabree Coleman, 4-star RB (Philadelphia). Committed to Penn State.
- Maxwell Roy, 4-star DT (Philadelphia). Committed to Ohio State.
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Michael Carroll, 4-star OT (Doylestown). Committed to Alabama.
7. Alex Tatsch, 4-star LB (Latrobe). Committed to Penn State.
- Andrew Olesh, 4-star TE (Center Valley). Committed to Michigan.
9. Dayshaun Burnett, 4-star DE (Pittsburgh). Committed to Penn State.
10. Tiqwai Hayes, 4-star RB (Aliquippa). Committed to Penn State.
- Sharlandiin Strange, 4-star DE (Wyncote). Undecided.
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Lex Cyrus, 3-star WR (Harrisburg). Undecided.
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Cameron Smith, 3-star DE (Philadelphia). Committed to Duke.
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Joshua Williams, 3-star OG (Haverford). Committed to Stanford.
15. Brady O’Hara, 3-star OL (Cranberry Twp). Committed to Penn State.
