Penn State Football Secures Its First Wide Receiver In Class Of 2016

Penn State picked up hard verbal today from wide receiver Dae’lun Darien, who had previously committed to Temple in November.

Darien is the 19th-ranked recruit who is currently committed to the Nittany Lions and is the second in as many days to make an announcement. Penn State is deep and relatively young at the receiver position, though the addition of Darien helps greatly because many believe that with his frame, he could potentially be converted to tight end.

The Baltimore, Maryland product stands at 6-foot-4 and weighs in at 205 pounds. He played receiver, quarterback and defensive end in high school, which makes him one of the more intriguing players in the class. There’s no questioning his athleticism, but he remains very raw and will need to spend a lot of time with receivers coach Josh Gattis to stand out among the rest of the immense talent that Penn State has at the position.

It’s likely that Darien will follow in the footsteps of current Penn State receiver Juwan Johnson by redshirting in his first year in Happy Valley. Former Nittany Lion Geno Lewis decided he would transfer to Oklahoma next season because of a drop in playing time in 2015 and the overall competitiveness at the position moving forward.

James Franklin currently boasts the fourth-ranked class in the conference, but it’s still light in terms of total commitments. National Signing Day is on Wednesday, so we’ll find out quickly who else may be joining the Nittany Lions next season.