On Monday, the Penn State Football program announced the hiring of wide receivers coach Marquis Hagans. The 40-year old assistant comes to Happy Valley after spending his entire coaching career with the Virginia Cavaliers.
Known to be a fantastic talent developer, Hagans will also be expected to be a strong recruiter for the Nittany Lions, especially in his home state of Virginia.
“If you thought Penn State was already recruiting the state of Virginia add an elite level, just wait until Hagans gets on the case,” Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Friedman said regarding the hiring of Hagans on Monday.
“The longtime receivers coach at the University of Virginia has deep ties to the movers and shakers throughout key areas like Virginia Beach and Richmond. Expect Penn State to not only land big time linemen and defenders like they have been but look for an uptick in offensive talent coming from the Virginia and landing in State College,” he added.
With that, Penn State’s wide receiver recruiting in 2024 and beyond will need to take a step up. In 2023 under Taylor Stubblefield, the Nittany Lions missed on several key targets and ultimately signed just one wide receiver in Carmelo Taylor.
While Taylor is a high quality prospect with plenty of upside, the Nittany Lions struggles to recruit the position in 2023 were noticeable. Add in their early struggles in the transfer portal before adding Dante Cephas and Malik McClain (only after Stubblefield was fired), and the trend at the position was a certainty a concern entering the 2024 recruiting cycle.
That being said, with Hagans now on board, this presents a strong opportunity to “reset” Penn State’s wide receiver board. Below, we take a look at several of the Nittany Lions top targets at the position in the 2024 cycle, where they stand with each, and what Hagans could potentially provide in their recruitments.
Please note that these players are in order solely based on their Rivals rankings.
