Penn State Basketball: Nittany Lions Add First Commitment to 2021 Class

Pat Chambers added the first player to his Penn State basketball recruiting class of 2021 with TaQuan Woodley’s commitment on Monday night. 

The power forward from Camden, New Jersey announced his decision with a post on his Instagram.

Woodley was a highly-touted recruit in the Philadelphia area, as he received offers from Temple and Rutgers. He also chose Penn State over South Carolina and La Salle. 

The power forward helped lead his Camden High School team to a 29-1 overall record as a junior this past winter. While the season was ultimately cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, the squad was selected as New Jersey’s boys basketball team of the year by NJ.com. The team’s only loss of the season came to Lamar Stevens’ and Seth Lundy’s alma mater Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia. 

The 6’7″, 220-pound big man will add some much-needed depth in the paint for the Nittany Lions. Most notably, Chambers’ squad just lost veteran Mike Watkins to graduation, and the only power forwards on the roster are currently John Harrar and Trent Buttrick. 

Woodley was considered to be a dominant defensive presence during his junior season of high school ball, but he had his fair share of big plays on offense too. Check out his highlights from that season here.