Penn State commit Zachary Gleason was thrown into the fire right away.
In the first game of his junior season, the 6-foot, 170-pound cornerback took on the top recruiting target in Pennsylvania who Penn State fans know well in LaSalle College’s Joey O’Brien.
O’Brien, who ended up signing with Notre Dame, ended that day with six catches for a modest 59 yards.
Five of those catches were on screens. The other was a 26-yard reception on a corner route.
None of them were against Gleason, and this was a sign that the kid had arrived.
Gleason is currently a three-star recruiting prospect, but one of his coaches believes he could be upgraded to a blue-chip, which Penn State fans will love to hear.
“I think he definitely is a kid that could get a fourth star,” Jon Hale, Central’s defensive backs coach, told NSN… “I think he is undervalued a little bit.”
So what makes Gleason Penn State material?
Well, he possesses a blend of physicality and technique that reminds Hale of Derek Stingley Jr., a first-team All-Pro with the Houston Texans.
Gleason’s game also extends to run support and corner blitzing, which Hale feels is reminiscent of another two-time first-team All-Pro– Marlon Humphrey of the Baltimore Ravens.
Now, Gleason plans to have his skills sharpened by one of the best in the business, longtime PSU CB coach Terry Smith. Smith is a big reason Penn State has developed a pipeline both in the WPIAL in general and with Central Catholic.
Since 2024, former Central stars Anthony Speca, Peter Gonzalez and Xxavier Thomas have all signed with Penn State, and Gonzalez and Thomas are still there (Speca transferred to Purdue).
Gleason started his high school career at Chartiers Valley— also in the Pittsburgh area— and transferred to Central ahead of his sophomore season.
There, he got the chance to guard Thomas, a two-way player already committed to Penn State.
“Zach kind of took the challenge on, like, ‘I am going to go cover this kid,’ Central head coach Ryah Lehmeier told Nittany Sports Now. “And they kind of went at each other.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.That mentality has carried over on Friday nights over the last two autumns
A corner’s No. 1 job is to shut down who they’re guarding, and Central’s defensive scheme– which featured plenty of press coverage– allowed for Gleason to do that.
But that’s not all he can do, and Penn State took notice of that when recruitng Gleason.
“He’s able to set the edge,” Lehmeier said. “You know, he was a great blitzer when we sent him last year. He got home a couple times and caused fumbles. Just everything. Going the extra mile and some of the stuff that you ask of a really good corner to do. You know, Zach’s done that.”
Going into Central Catholic’s program was an adjustment, and Lehmeier remembers how Gleason handled it.
“You know, when he came to us, we were speaking a different language,” Lehmeier said. “We were asking him to do some things he might have, you know, not done before, but I just think how attentive he was, how bought into what we were selling and how, you know, he really was, he mastered the details.
Lehmeier feels these traits will translate to the college level.
“And all the physical things, he’s worked really hard,” Lehmeier said. “He’s improved his body (6-feet, 170 pounds). He’s obviously naturally matured. He got taller, bigger, stronger. But I think Zach plays with a lot of weight, for a big guy has a lot of weight, but he knows how to use it. And then the one thing that I know, you know, it definitely showed up in his film as a junior.”
Gleason still has one more year before moving to the college level.
So what can he improve on before then?
“I mean for corners, you can never be too fast,” Hale said. “So I would say that about anybody that plays corner. “It’s always a battle of trying to be as fast as you can be, and his quickness. So anything in the weight room, things of that nature that can enhance his because he is fast, he has speed, but anything to enhance his speed, quickness and explosive power at that position.”
“Well, I think he’d be the first to tell you he’s got to improve everywhere,” Lehmeier said. “Because he’s done really well for himself early on here in high school. But everybody that he’s going to have to go cover now is going to be an inch taller and twenty-five pounds bigger. You know, he’s going to have to tackle backs that are thirty pounds heavier. So everything’s going to get amplified by a lot when he gets there.
Overall, Lehemier feels Gleason is a big recruiting win for Penn State both on and off the field.
“I just can’t talk enough about how good of a kid he is,” he said. “You know, I love coaching him. He has a great personality about him. He’s charismatic, he’s funny. I just think that these are intangible things that I think are going to translate to be able to be successful at the next level.
