Penn State has flipped the top-ranked commit of one of its former coaches.
First-year Duke head coach and former Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz got some bad news Thursday when four-star LB Cameron Smith, a star from St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia, flipped his commitment from Duke to Penn State.
Next Chapter #WeAre 🦁 pic.twitter.com/fIG8ScJ8Bs
— Cam Smith (@camduhhgoat) August 8, 2024
247Sports’ site rankings have Smith as the No. 167 overall player in the country— well within the top 247–, as well as the No. 19 overall linebacker and No. 5 overall player in PA from his class.
Pay extra attention to that last line.
Penn State football’s had, for the most part, great success recruiting in-state since James Franklin became the head coach in 2014.
Some of the Franklin era’s best players, such as RB Saquon Barkley (Whitehall), LB Micah Parsons (Harrisburg) and WR Jahan Dotson (Nazareth), were recruited out of Pennsylvania.
From 2022-24, Penn State landed the state’s top player every cycle.
The No. 1 PA player in the 2020 (Julian Fleming) and 2021 (Nolan Rucci) cycles each transferred to Penn State over the winter.
But the 2025 cycle had been different. Per 247Sports rankings, only two of the state’s top 10 players had committed to PSU, none of which were in the top five.
Smith changes that.
In his scouting report, 247Sports’ Hudson Standish described Smith as a “speed and space off-ball linebacker verified a shade over 6-feet even, 200 pounds with adequate length measurements and an ideal combine testing profile.”
“Primarily worked as a weakside backer in a 4-3 defense as a junior, utilizing his explosive lower half and keen football instincts to cause havoc from sideline to sideline.”
“One of the better linebackers at this stage of the evaluation process at covering in space and changing directions out of his backpedal. Can quickly trigger to the football in any direction, and has the reactionary athleticism to occasionally hang in man coverage against receivers.”
