ALTOONA, Pa. -- Recruiting is all about momentum, and can swing in a hurry with a flurry of good or bad news on a given day.
Penn State had been riding a high of good recruiting developments for a while, but that changed Thursday with a series of bad news.
Following was the biggest bit of bad news on the day, as well as the biggest bid of bad news in a while for the Nittany Lions. They lost their quarterback for the class of 2023 as 4-star Marcus Stokes flipped his commitment to Florida.
My recruitment is completely shut down🐊💙🧡 #GoGators pic.twitter.com/ZQI7XHHQmn
— Marcus “JOKER” Stokes🃏🥷 (@marcusstokes06) July 7, 2022
Stokes is a 6-foot-2, 185-pounder who committed to Penn State on April 8, one day after he made an unofficial visit to Happy Valley. He made his official visit a month later, on June 10.
But, just 12 days later, Stokes attended a camp at Florida. So it may not have come as a big surprise that he decided to flip to the Gators a little more than two weeks later.
Stokes is from Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., the same high school that produced legendary Gators quarterback Tim Tebow. Stokes is rated the No. 78 prospect in Florida and No. 22 quarterback in the nation. He also had an offer from Pitt, as well as Virginia Tech, Utah and USF, among others.
The Florida offer, which didn't come until Thursday, must have been too much for the in-state product to pass up since he committed on the same day.
Stokes was being recruited at Penn State by offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. Now the Lions will be back in the market for a quarterback prospect since they currently have none committed for the class of 2023.
Now, that may not be as big of a deal since the Lions already have prized recruit Drew Allar on board, and he'll be a freshman this year. So, in theory, the Lions could be set at QB for several years. However, teams like to bring in at least one quarterback each recruiting cycle, and you just never know what will happen with Allar in the era of NIL and the transfer portal.
OTHER BAD NEWS
Penn State also missed out on two other top recruiting targets Thursday, both of whom picked other schools.
Treyaun Webb, a 4-star running back from Jacksonville, Fla., picked Florida over Penn State and other schools. He's rated the No. 5 running back recruit in the nation.
Also, 4-star wide receiver Cam Seldon committed to Tennessee over Penn State. He's rated the No. 7 athlete in the nation.
So, add it all up, and the Lions certainly had a bad day.
Rough day on the trail 😬
— 1-0 Podcast (@1and0Pod) July 7, 2022
4⭐ QB Marcus Stokes ➡️ Florida
4⭐ RB Treyaun Webb ➡️ Florida
4⭐ WR Cam Seldon ➡️ Tennessee pic.twitter.com/1t8LE3Vgod
SOME PERSPECTIVE
Now, despite the tough day Thursday, Penn State is still in very good shape for the class of 2023. The Lions have the No. 5 class in the nation, according to 247Sports, with 15 commits. They probably would have moved up had they not missed out on all three prospects Thursday, but the overall class is still strong.
Penn State currently sits behind Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas and Clemson in the recruiting rankings.
It will be interesting to see who the Lions now target at quarterback with the Stokes flip, but the good news is there's still a lot of time left in this recruiting cycle to find a quality quarterback. And if they don't, then again, they already have Allar on board, as well as Beau Pribula, a 3-star prospect from Central York High School.