Penn State Football Eyes Weekend Commitment from Corner Target

Penn State football is eyeing another key moment in the 2022 recruiting cycle this weekend with a top cornerback target set to announce his college decision on Sunday evening.

Jaedan Gould, a four-star corner out of Bergen Catholic in New Jersey announced on Monday evening his intentions on Twitter to make his verbal commitment official this upcoming weekend. Penn State and USC are Gould’s two finalists in the process.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound prospect has had a busy travel schedule as of late, visiting both Penn State and USC on back-to-back weekends as programs across the country continue to ease back in the process of in-person visits. Penn State was the second of Gould’s two visits – that visit was a weekend long official visit.

Gould’s decision is set to come at 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday. The 247 Sports composite rankings have Gould as the second-best corner in New Jersey and the state’s 18th-best overall prospect. Nationally, 247 rates Gould the 130th best prospect in the nation and the 16th best corner.

The same network’s “Crystal Ball,” which tracks anticipated commitment results, is unanimous in its preditction that Gould will verbally commit to Penn State.

A commitment would give Penn State’s its 12th verbal of its 2022 class and its eighth commitment by a four-star prospect. Penn State has the sixth-best recruiting class in the nation, according to 247, and the third-best in the Big Ten. Ohio State and Rutgers [which has two more commitments in its class than the Nittany Lions] are the two higher rated classes.

Michigan, with just seven commitments relatively early in the cycle, is fourth in the Big Ten, according to 247.

Class size and quality impact rankings, especially in the early stages of a recruiting cycle. For example, Alabama has just seven verbal commitments as of June 15 but is unlikely to finish the year with the nation’s 12th best class. The Crimson Tide signed the nation’s top class in 2021 and 2019, coming in second in 2020.