Penn State is struggling right now, not just because they just fired their head coach, but also because they are losing commits left and right. It makes a lot of sense, as the coach that they committed to playing for is no longer with the program, so a lot of those recruits are opening up their recruitment again.
For one Penn State commit, he completely opened up his recruitment again, even though he is technically staying committed to the Nittany Lions. Elijah Littlejohn is a four-star EDGE rusher, according to 247Sports, who committed to Penn State back in mid-June, but just recently opened back up his recruitment.
While Littlejohn was happy with the Nittany Lions and was thankful for all that they did for him, however, he wants to open his recruitment again and see what other programs are going to show interest in him. Littlejohn is the No. 243 player in the Class of 2026, the No. 24 EDGE rusher in his class, and the No. 14 player in the state of North Carolina, all according to 247Sports.
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This is a player that Ohio State absolutely has a chance to go out and get. With Littlejohn already committed to a Big Ten school, he may be looking to stay in the conference, and even though he isn't the highest-ranked EDGE rusher, Matt Patricia and Ohio State know how to develop players once they are in the program.
Head coach Ryan Day already extended an offer to the young pass rusher; however, he only took official visits to two schools: Penn State and Georgia Tech.
With Littlejohn's commitment now 100% open again, he may be more willing to broaden his choices from the Nittany Lions and the Yellow Jackets to other schools. This would be a solid commitment to get, especially so late in the recruiting cycle for the Class of 2026.
Ohio State has an opportunity here to reap the benefits of Penn State firing James Franklin as more and more recruits decide on their futures of their commitments.