Inside Lasch: Latest on Penn State’s recruitment of 2024 OL Andrew Dennis, plus early visitor list

All eyes will again be on Penn State this weekend as the Nittany Lions are set for a Top 10 showdown against Michigan Saturday at Beaver Stadium. With the game set to be a Noon ET kickoff, the overall list of recruiting visitors may not reach the depth we saw earlier in the season for games against West Virginia and Iowa, but we still expect a quality list of prospects to be in town for one of the biggest games of the season in the Big Ten.

Blue White Illustrated will have a complete list of recruiting visitors later this week, but for now, here’s the latest on some key prospects expected to visit this upcoming weekend.

The latest on 2024 OL Andrew Dennis

Penn State will host its first official visitor since June this upcoming weekend in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., native Andrew Dennis. A four-star prospect in the On3 Industry Rankings, Dennis took a two-day visit to Penn State in March and made it clear at the time that an offer from the Nittany Lions would have a big impact on his recruitment. An offer didn’t immediately come, however, and he went on to commit to Michigan State about a month later.

That all changed in September. Just two days after Michigan State suspended head coach Mel Tucker, Dennis earned an offer during an extended conversation with offensive line coach Phil Trautwein and Penn State recruiting assistants Chris Mahon and Khalil Ahmad.

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“What they told me was that they try to stray away from guys who already committed to be respectful,” Dennis said. “We didn’t get into the Michigan State situation at all, but they made it clear that they’ve wanted to offer me for a while. Coach [Mahon] and Coach Khalil were also on the phone, so we had a great conversation.

“But Coach Traut told me that he’s really liked me for a while. He came and saw me work out in the spring and loved everything he saw. So, he just said he’s excited about me and wanted to take the next step forward.”

Those relationships have only strengthened in recent months, but Penn State also has some serious competition now. At one point, Purdue and Illinois appeared to be the other schools Dennis was seriously considering, both of which got him on campus. Now, Clemson has emerged as one of Penn State’s top competitors after Dabo Swinney’s staff extended an offer on Oct. 25. We’re hearing that an official visit to Clemson could come as soon as next weekend now that Dennis’ season has finished. The Tigers host North Carolina on Nov. 18.

Because of that, we’d be surprised if Dennis’ recruitment ended any time soon. Remember, official visits are no longer limited to five schools. Each school can host him for an official visit once between now and the early signing period. Auburn is interested in getting him on campus, as is Kentucky. I expect Penn State to be a school he seriously considers, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if additional offers also come down the stretch. A bunch of schools should be watching Dennis’ film in the weeks ahead.

Who are the early names expected to be at Penn State?

As always, Sean Fitz and I will get a more complete list of expected visitors together in the coming days. It does look as if one of Penn State’s most important recruits, 2025 safety Anthony Sacca, won’t be able to attend, however. Sacca told BWI two weeks ago that he planned to attend if his playoff schedule allowed for it, but now St. Joseph’s Prep is expected to play La Salle on Sunday. Because of that, he and his teammates will have a walk-through practice Saturday.

As we posted earlier today, a handful of notable quarterbacks are expected to attend in Ryan Montgomery, Matt Zollers and Nathan Bernhard. Montgomery and his family are expected to speak with Penn State this evening. We’re still working to confirm with Archbishop Spalding’s Malik Washington what his plans are – we believe he attended Maryland’s game against Penn State Saturday – but either way the 2025 quarterback board has become very intriguing now following Zollers’ offer. I expect more schools to come calling for Zollers in the months ahead, so a quick decision isn’t likely, but he’s a player for fans to watch closely now moving forward.

Two Maryland prospects, RB Iverson Howard and CB Zymear Smith, have also said they plan to attend. The Nittany Lions already have two running backs committed for 2025, but they’ll continue to recruit Howard and many of the region’s top backs. Smith has seen his offer sheet explode since Penn State offered on Oct. 31. Georgia, Maryland, Pitt, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia Tech are a few of the schools that have offered over the past week.

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Two other notables in the 2025 class include DL Adam Shovlin from St. Thomas More and WR Terrell Wiltfong from New Jersey. Shovlin has been steadily visiting Penn State over the past 18 months, totaling four trips in that span. He was last on campus this summer for camp. As for Wiltfong, he just earned an offer from the Nittany Lions a little over a week ago. Boston College and Cal have also offered. This is his second trip to Penn State. He was last on campus in April.

We’ve also confirmed with two of Central Catholic’s top up-and-coming players, 2026 LB Colsen Gatten and 2027 CB Larry Moon III that they’ll be back on campus.

There are also a few other 2025 prospects who have told us they want to get to Penn State this weekend but aren’t 100 percent locked in at the moment. That list includes Saf. Kainoa Winston, DL Trent Wilson and CB Cam Miller.

Again, we expect this list to grow substantially in the days ahead, but below are the names we’ve confirmed so far.

2024

Andrew Dennis – OL – Mount Pleasant, Mich. – Mount Pleasant *

Demetrius Ballard – DL – New Kensington, Pa. – Valley

2025

Iverson Howard – RB – Gaithersburg, Md. – Quince Orchard *
Ryan Montgomery – QB – Findlay, Ohio – Findlay *
Adam Shovlin – DL – Duryea, Pa. – St. Thomas More (Conn.) *
Zymear Smith – CB – Denton, Md. – North Caroline *
Terrell Wiltfong – WR – West Orange, N.J. – West Orange *
Matt Zollers – QB – Royersford, Pa. – Spring-Ford *

Andrew Olesh – TE – Center Valley, Pa. – Southern Lehigh

2026

Nathan Bernhard – QB – Ashland, Ohio – Ashland *
Colsen Gatten – LB – Pittsburgh, Pa. – Central Catholic *

Dante Carr – QB – Minersville, Pa. – Minersville

2027

Larry Moon III – CB – Pittsburgh, Pa. – Central Catholic *

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