Penn State steady in On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking
Penn State football continued to build its Class of 2024 with the Saturday commitment of quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer. The three-star signal-caller followed the decision with a performance Sunday at the Elite 11 Northeast Regional in State College, Pa., that earned him an invitation to the national event next month.
Listed at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, Grunkemeyer picked the Nittany Lions over 22 other scholarship offers. They included Cincinnati, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Virginia, among others, having recently hosted Grunkemeyer for visits this spring.
“I think I really fit in with their culture and their personalities,” Grunkemeyer told BWI. “They have a lot of good quarterback minds in their room. Coach [Danny] O’Brien and Coach Yurcich both played the position and are really good coaches. I feel like I really fit in and can learn a lot from them.”
Though Grunkemeyer is expected to climb from his current On3 Industry Ranking of No. 629, the Lewis Center, Ohio product made no dent on the Nittany Lions’ team recruiting rankings. Instead, the 2024 Industry Football Team Recruiting Rankings continue to show the Nittany Lions at No. 12 nationally.
At present, Penn State stands behind No. 11 LSU and ahead of No. 13 Clemson. The spot is a familiar one to the Nittany Lions, who have climbed as high as No. 10 after the April 28 verbal commitment of four-star running back Corey Smith.
Penn State shows no change with the lastest commitment
The On3 Industry Team Football Recruiting Ranking is a moving scale evaluating the nation’s top recruiting classes in college football. Unique to On3, that takes shape with an evolving number of commitments counting toward the overall team score.
Upon Penn State’s last commitment, nearly a month ago, the average number of commitments used to tabulate the rankings was six. As of this past weekend, it hadn’t changed.
Given that reality, Grunkemeyer’s place as the next-to-last rated of Penn State’s current 14 verbal commitments, his pledge doesn’t affect the program’s team score. However, it does impact the per-recruit scoring average, which now stands at 89.51 for the class.
At 14 total commitments for the Class of 2024, Penn State is fifth nationally behind just Michigan and Wake Forest, each checking in with 17, along with Notre Dame (16) and LSU (15).
Scouting the Big Ten
Coming out of the weekend, Penn State’s team score is now 91.621. The class currently boasts five four-star prospects and nine three-stars.
Against the Nittany Lions’ Big Ten peers, they’re currently third behind Ohio State (94.913) and Michigan (93.21). The Buckeyes and Wolverines remain strong nationally, checking in at No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, in the present rankings.
Running through the rest of the conference, Southern Cal has entered the conversation at No. 4 despite having just three commitments. They’re ahead of Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Purdue, UCLA, and Minnesota to round out the top 10. Rutgers, Michigan State, Indiana, Northwestern, Maryland, and Illinois complete the Big Ten rankings.
