Penn State stays hot on the recruiting trail landing four-star running back Kaytron Allen

ALTOONA, Pa. -- James Franklin and his coaching staff have started out the month of July landing seven commitments to the 2022 class this month and six within a five day span. As a result the 2022 class now sits at No. 3 in the country, but that could change with the addition of four-star running back Kaytron Allen to the list on Friday. 

Allen chose the Nittany Lions over Georgia, Florida and Michigan State and is the third-ranked prospect in this class behind Nicholas Singleton and Kaden Saunders. The commitment shows and drives home the ability running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider has on recruiting but also the program's success as a whole on that front thus far.

The overall success of the 2022 class to date is thanks in large part to being able to get players on campus through official visits and camps, but also having the bulk of the class commit early and end up becoming the top recruiters for the program.

Players like four-star defensive end Ken Talley and four-star tight end Jerry Cross have been actively recruiting players on Twitter and even trolling certain Big Ten institutions in Talley's case. 

Nothing quite like going after a conference rival without enrolling in the university yet, but it makes for good entertainment in the recruiting world. Whether that is backed up on the field remains to be seen.

Of course, it's not just those two, but the others in the class have been active in recruiting their peers on Twitter and it's not going unnoticed as players continue to commit but also realize the impact those players have on recruiting. 

Not that the coaches at Penn State are bad recruiters, in fact, many are at the top of the recruiting world like Seider who's ranked No. 21 in the nation according to 247Sports, but having players who are actively recruiting their peers takes a little of the burden off of those coaches. Those players, already bought in to the program and the coaching staff are able to speak from experience and use that to help guide their peers to Penn State and the potentially special group the Nittany Lions are putting together. 

Three of the six players who committed in the month of July are ranked as four star recruits while the three remaining commits are ranked at three stars each. 

Of those, the highest ranked player is Singleton, a running back, who became the highest-ranked player in this cycle for the Nittany Lions upon his commitment July 6. Singleton had a multitude of offers stemming from the likes of Alabama, Notre Dame and Wisconsin, but elected to stay close to home in Penn State. 

Singleton was a star for Governor Mifflin in 2020 running for 1,311 yards and 22 touchdowns on 107 carries in eight games last season. With Singleton's commitment, the Nittany Lions have now had five of the top eight Pennsylvania players in the state commit to play at Penn State with only six of those eight making their decisions so far. 

In fact, he was the third Pennsylvania athlete to commit of those six joining four-star defensive lineman Tyreese Fearbry, three-star linebacker Keon Wylie and three-star offensive tackle JB Nelson out of Lackawanna Community College. Nelson got the bevy of July commitments started on July 2, followed by Wylie who committed July 3 before Fearbry was joined by another four-star defensive lineman in Zane Durant and three-star defensive lineman Kaleb Artis on the Fourth of July.

It's not just the 2022 class that Penn State has been recruiting heavily as Franklin and company landed the top-rated interior lineman from the 2023 class with four-star Alex Birchmeier's commitment earlier in the week. With five months until signing day, there's still a lot that can happen but Penn State is sure to make some more splashes in both the 2022 and 2023 cycles.