Penn State extends offer to Class of 2026 power forward
The transfer portal is active for Penn State basketball as the program continues its search to fill three open scholarships ahead of the 2024-25 season. Adding Kachi Nzeh to date, the Nittany Lions landed in the top five of Northern Kentucky transfer guard Marques Warrick on Sunday.
Penn State hasn’t limited its focus to the transfer portal, though.
Announcing a new offer on Tuesday afternoon, Class of 2026 power forward James Turner is the newest out of sophomore class to get an offer from the Nittany Lions. He is listed at 6-foot-8, 200 pounds on his Hudl profile and projects as a power forward.
His other offers at this early point in the process include Radford, Stony Brook University, Jackson State University, IUPUI, College of Charleston, and Kent State. That makes Penn State his first out of the Division I power conferences.
Penn State recruiting approach
After bringing in nine transfer portal additions, plus one traditional Class of 2023 recruit, Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades acknowledged the balancing act the program will try to play as it confronts traditional recruiting against filling immediate needs through the portal.
Speaking with reporters at his year-end press conference following a 16-18 overall campaign, going 9-11 in regular Big Ten competition and 1-1 in the conference tournament, Rhoades said his hope is very much to maintain traditional development in the program via high school recruiting.
“I hope. I really hope we can, we do, but I don’t know that. Right now, the state of college basketball, I’m not sure. And I’m going to try like crazy at Penn State,” said Rhoades. “It’s my favorite thing of all of this is watching a freshman turn into a sophomore turn into a junior and a captain and a leader. And this really good basketball player. It’s my favorite part.
“I got into coaching because nobody wanted me to play anymore and I wanted to be in the gym. And then I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed being with young guys in the gym and trying to get better. It’s my favorite thing… I love working with guys and watching guys go from freshmen to juniors to senior captains. It is my favorite thing.”
At this point in his tenure, Rhoades has a four-man Class of 2024 set to enroll at Penn State this summer. Fighting to maintain that model to the extent possible, Rhoades detailed what makes it so special.
“At this level, you watch those guys and some of them turn into professional players. And they get up every day for the next five, eight years of their life all over the world. In the NBA and the G-League being pros. That’s so cool. That’s rewarding for me. I love that,” said Rhoades. ” t’s a lot harder now than ever before because we opened the floodgates with all of this.”
Where things stand for Penn State (10 of 13 scholarships projected filled)
Guards Ace Baldwin, Jahvin Carter, D’Marco Dunn, Dominick Stewart
Wings Nick Kern, Zach Hicks, Puff Johnson, Hudson Ward
Bigs Miles Goodman, Kachi Nzeh
Penn State scholarship breakdown by class
Bonus year (2): Ace Baldwin, Puff Johnson
Fourth year (3): Nick Kern, Zach Hicks, D’Marco Dunn
Third year (0):
Second year (1): Kachi Nzeh
First year (4): Jahvin Carter, Miles Goodman, Dominick Stewart, Hudson Ward
