A celebration will be held on the second floor of the Penn State football program’s Lasch Building headquarters Wednesday.
Coach James Franklin and his staff will welcome the newest Nittany Lions into the program from the recruiting Class of 2020.
The yearly event will be a part of the program’s early National Signing Day festivities, and per the usual, plenty of fanfare is expected.
As of Sunday morning, 27 high school seniors verbally committed to the program, and as far as we know, all have received a written scholarship offer.
It means they will all receive National Letters of Intent to sign and send into the school. Once the compliance department approves each letter, the player whose name is on it officially becomes a member of the team.
This is the third year of the early signing period, and most schools have made it their true signing day. Remember, though, that the February date does still exist.
“I think the biggest thing is, we decided to do this the first year, and I think most people are approaching it this way as well: The early signing period is the signing period,” Franklin said in November. “Every single one of our guys will sign in December, and if they don’t, they’ve told us something.”
Wait, isn’t 27 players too many?
In theory, yes, 27 signees are too many since there is a NCAA rule that caps class sizes at 25. In practice, it’s a different story.
Penn State can count some of this year’s class against leftover spots from the previous year since a number of members in this cycle will enroll early, and that’s how it intends to bring in the full class.
For what it’s worth, the Lions staff previously thought they had room to bring in up to 30 players, and that offers a pretty good indication of how confident they are about the numbers working out.
“You count guys back, and when you have guys leave early for the Draft or transfer out, it’s all about roster spots,” corners coach and defensive recruiting coordinator Terry Smith said in August.
