Penn State football made the majority of its 2023 recruiting class official on Wednesday morning as 22 student-athletes signed and – yes – faxed, in their National Letters of Intent. Verbally committed safety prospect Conrad Hussey did not sign on Wednesday as he makes a final choice between Penn State and Florida State.
Among the 22 players who signed on the dotted line, 11 of the of the signees will be early enrollees in January – Mega Barnwell, Alex Birchmeier, Anthony Donkoh, Lamont Payne Jr., Ta’Mere Robinson, Tony Rojas, Joey Schlaffer, Jaxon Smolik, Zion Tracy, Elliot Washington II and J’ven Williams. The Nittany Lions signed 15 recruits that were rated four stars or higher by 247Sports, On3, ESPN or Rivals.
The Class of 2023 features 10 offensive signees and 12 defensive players. There are 19 team captains, three players who have won a state championship four players participating in high school national all-star games.
Here’s what James Franklin had to say about the class at-large on Wednesday during his signing day press conference.
“When you talk about this class, we’re very, very happy with the class,” Franklin said. “There’s a lot of balance in the class offense and defense as well as early enrollees. I think we have 11 guys that are scheduled right now to be early enrollees, which would be, based on what they all told me today, 16 days when they’ll be arriving. The class is about split from offense to defense, from little guys to big guys. I think we got a really good mix there.
“I think the other thing that we’ve done a good job of, we’re going to have to continue to do a good job, is kind of branching out and going to more places. Obviously DaKaari in Selma, Alabama, are a really good example of that. At the end of the day we’re still talking about what I would describe as Penn Staters, Penn State kids and Penn State families. You got a chance to spend some time with DaKaari and his family, his dad is the principal of the school, mom is phenomenal. They’ve done a great job raising DaKaari.”
“Obviously doing a great job in the state of Pennsylvania in keeping the best players home, always a priority for us. I think we’ve done a good job of that. Then also the region, whether it’s New York or whether it’s New Jersey or Virginia or Maryland, I think we’ve done a good job of having a presence in those areas as well. Probably the other thing that jumps out to me is trying to get really good players from really good high schools so they’re academically prepared to come in here and be successful, but also really good high school programs as well. Whenever you can get really good players from great high schools that also know what it takes to win and the sacrifices that need to be made, then you got a chance to be special.”
“I’m very, very pleased with the class. As you guys know, this is the first signing day, so there will be another signing day. We also have the possibility of some transfer portal options as well. Then we got one guy that we’ve been recruiting for a long time that still hasn’t signed yet. We’ll see how that all plays out.”
2023 SIGNEE ROSTER (December 21)
- Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown/High School
- Barnwell, Mega TE 6-6 250 Fredericksburg, Va./Riverbend
- Birchmeier, Alex OL 6-5 285 Ashburn, Va./Broad Run
- Blanding, Ty DT 6-1 265 Bronx, N.Y./Christ The King
- Donkoh, Anthony OL 6-5 320 Aldie, Va./Lightridge
- Keys, Kaveion LB 6-2 195 Richmond, Va./Varina
- Lyons, Jameial DE 6-5 250 Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic
- Mack, King DB 5-10 175 Miami, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas
- Montgomery, London RB 5-10 180 Scranton, Pa./Scranton Prep
- Mupoyi, Joseph DE 6-5 240 Upper Marlboro, Md./St. Thomas More (Conn.)
- Nelson, DaKaari DB 6-3 200 Livingston, Ala./Selma
- Payne Jr., Lamont DB 6-0 185 Carnegie, Pa./Chartiers Valley
- Rappleyea, Andrew TE 6-4 235 Millbrook, N.Y./Milton Academy (Mass.)
- Robinson, Mason DE 6-3 225 Randallstown, Md./McDonogh School
- Robinson, Ta’Mere LB 6-3 230 Pittsburgh, Pa./Brashear
- Rojas, Tony LB 6-2 195 Fairfax, Va./Fairfax
- Schlaffer, Joey TE 6-5 220 Reading, Pa./Exeter Township
- Smolik, Jaxon QB 6-1 205 Van Meter, Iowa/Dowling Catholic
- Taylor, Carmelo WR 5-11 160 Roanoke, Va./Patrick Henry
- Tracy, Zion DB 5-11 175 Hempstead, N.Y./St. Thomas More (Conn.)
- Wallace, Cam RB 5-9 175 Mount Vernon, Ga./Montgomery County
- Washington II, Elliot DB 5-11 190 Venice, Fla./Venice
- Williams, J’ven OL 6-5 290 Reading, Pa./Wyomissing
