Penn State Football received their biggest win on the recruiting trail for 2023 Friday afternoon, when four-star cornerback Elliot Washington flipped his commitment from Nick Saban and Alabama to the Nittany Lions.
Washington is a four star recruit out of Venice, Florida currently ranked as the 110th best player in the ‘23 class by the 247sports composite.
Sources close to the Penn State Football program tell Nittany Central that targeting players in traditional SEC territory has been a point of emphasis within the program this offseason, since head coach James Franklin signed his new 10-year contract extension last November.
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Landing a commit like Washington, and flipping him from a national powerhouse like Alabama certainly fits that mold.
Williams had previously committed to Alabama in January of 2022, and rumors swirled he would be de-committing as 247sports experts started putting in crystal balls of Washington to Mel Tucker and Michigan State after taking two official visits in June.
Those visits came a week apart, and came after an official to State College.
This is a huge win for Franklin and company, not only for stealing a ‘Bama commit, but then keeping him away from conference rival Michigan State.
This is all not to mention he is thought of as a blue chip prospect who had offers from Georgia, Ohio State, Miami and many more. Franklin continues to recruit Florida as well as any state as well.
Washington is listed at five-foot-eleven and 195 pounds and has been playing Varsity football since he was in eighth grade and is a edcorated track runner at Venice High School, finishing third at the 3A State Track meet in the 100-meter dash as well as partaking in a team event where he ran anchor on a squad that finished second in the 4×100.
Thursday it looked as if the sky was falling for the Nittany Lions when four-star quarterback Marcus Stokes de-committed, and then took running back Treyaun Webb with him to the University of Florida.
Webb was not a Nittany Lion commit, but was seen as a sure thing to land with Penn State Football up until yesterday.
Life comes as you fast in college football nowadays, but this was surely a shocking Friday news dump for Penn State, and one they will certainly remember.
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