Ohio State’s six 2017 commitments and Penn State’s recruiting outlook in the class of 2017

There was a time when high school football players didn’t receive an offer, let alone have an opportunity to commit to a school, until their senior season. That time is long gone. And it isn’t coming back. Penn State has nine class of 2016 commitments. It has had success like many other programs, including Big Ten rivals, with landing top targets. Thus far, that fortune haven’t translated into recruiting victories in the class of 2017. They have at other Big Ten programs. For Penn State, that isn’t a problem. Ohio State is far and away the quickest moving program in a cycle with prospects that won’t sign until February 2017. Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes have commitments from two consensus five-star players, one a tackle and the other a corner, along with four four-star commitments. The six total is the most of any program in the country; Miami has five, Alabama four, Florida State three, and a host of programs have two. The only other Big Ten program with a 2017 pledge is Michigan, and it’s from a three-star Michigan native and tight end.  Penn State, as it often has since James Franklin and his staff arrived in January 2014, has beaten the pavement hard to see as many prospects as possible and offer the ones they deem as elite. The program is highly-involved with five-star Indiana quarterback Hunter Johnson, and he’s visited campus, and five-star Philadelphia St. Joe’s Prep running back D’Andre Swift is right in the program’s backyard and could be the nation’s top back before all is said and done. Recruiting is a unique game; commitments come in bunches and they come spaced out. One thing that has been consistent, though, is that Penn State has rarely gained commitments from sophomores before the summer of their junior year. Hyattsville, Md., DeMatha product Mark Allen, who signed in the class of 2014, committed in 2012 as a sophomore days after Penn State offered. The last player before that? Recently graduated linebacker Mike Hull, who committed in Nov. 2008, according to Rivals, before signing in the class of 2010…

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