Penn State

Penn State Recruiting Roundup: Nittany Lions Secure De’Andre Cook Ahead Of Potential Big Day

By
Paul Bowman
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Paul Bowman Sports Editor

Penn State Great Valley MBA, Penn State Berks Undergrad, Eagle Scout and Vigil Honor, IT Service Manager. I joined Sports Talk Philly in 2017 and root for all the Philly teams (as well as their minor league counter parts).

All posts by Paul Bowman
Sports Editor

Published30 Jun 2023

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Niitany Lion

On Friday, the Penn State Football 2024 recruiting class secured a commitment from just their second defensive lineman.

De’Andre Cook, the fifth-highest rated recruit out of DC this cycle, moved his commitment date up last week and officially made the decision to attend Penn State.

A three-star prospect, Cook had Oklahoma, Rutgers, North Carolina and Boston College as his other top schools.

He told reporters that he immediately knew Penn State was where he wanted to be as soon as he took his first visit to campus.

Cook could be just the start of a big holiday weekend for the Nittany Lions. He was one of several prospects that included Penn State in their top schools and had set a commitment date for July 1 prior to his moving it up a day.

Cook becomes the 2024 class’ 21st commitment.

What’s Next – Upcoming Commitments To Watch

July 1 could be a huge day for Penn State.

Among those announcing their commitments on that day are:

Four-star athlete/receiver Jaylan Hornsby. He is the sixth-ranked prospect from New Jersey in the 2024 class. His other top school is Texas A&M. He is considered a slight A&M lean right now.

Deyvid Palepale, a three-star defensive lineman and the 20th ranked prospect in Pennsylvania. His other top schools are two B1G (or at least, soon to be) opponents – USC and Michigan. He is considered a Trojan lean,

Some other upcoming commitments to watch for the program include four-star edge/athlete Mylachi Williams, the seventh ranked player in PA in 2024 and the 25th ranked edge. He is set to commit on July 8th and although he hasn’t released a top school’s list, he is set to announce on July 8.

Also of Note is former Michigan State commit, receiver Nicholas Marsh. He decommitted and will be announcing his new decision on July 7.

Marsh is a four-star player and the third overall from Michigan this recruiting cycle. A top-100 player in the class, Marsh is set to decide between the Nittany Lions and other top schools Oregon, Michigan State, Kansas and Pitt. He is currently considered a Penn State lean.

Jaylen Harvey, another four-star Edge and the 10th ranked player in Maryland in 2024, was set to decide on July 4 but has pushed that back to an unspecified time. He is currently a Penn State lean but has Tennessee, Maryland, Florida and USC as his other top schools.

Other Recent Recruiting News:

Another name of note for Penn State fans will be a recent UCF decommit.

Sincere Edwards, a three-star defensive lineman out of Florida, had been committed to the Knights but chose to re-open his recruitment a little over a week ago.

At that time, he also dropped a top five that Penn State found themselves among. His other top schools were UCF, USF, Maryland and Pitt.

Defensive lineman T.A. Cunningham has become a name to watch, as well.

He is a top-250 player in the 2024 class and is a four-star prospect out of Florida.

Following his visit on June 18, he has had Penn State at the top of his list – though no official top schools list or commitment date has been released.

Finally, Benedict Umeh, a top-100 player in the class and the top overall in Connecticut was onsite with Cunningham during his visit.

The defensive lineman is a Nigeran-born player who lived in Toronto before transferring to a school in the states.

Cunningham and Umeh seem to have hit it off and both have the Blue and White in their top schools, but Umeh was also impressed by his recent Stanford visit so the Nittany Lions will have to try and fight them off for Umeh’s commitment.