After finishing the 2021 recruiting cycle outside of the top 25 in the class rankings, Penn State football has had a massive turnaround in 2022 with the most ESPN 300 commitments of any FBS program.
ESPN 300 safety Cristian Driver was the latest to commit to the Nittany Lions on Thursday, giving the program 13 ESPN 300 commitments in the class.
Driver, the son of former NFL wide receiver Donald Driver, is ranked No. 180 overall and chose Penn State over offers from Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M, among others. He’s a 6-foot, 185-pound safety from Liberty Christian School in Denton, Texas, and is the sixth ESPN 300 commitment for Penn State in July.
He joins defensive ends Dani Dennis-Sutton and Tyreese Fearbry, running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen and defensive tackle Zane Durant to commit this month. The staff also was able to get a commitment in July from four-star corner Cam Miller, who is ranked outside the top 300.
The coaching staff signed only four ESPN 300 commitments in the 2021 cycle in a class that coach James Franklin said wasn’t up to the standard of where Penn State recruits.
Now with 13 ESPN 300 commitments and still five months until the December signing period, Penn State has positioned itself to sign one of the top classes in the country. Ranked No. 3 in the class rankings before this commitment, Penn State was behind only Ohio State and Notre Dame.