Before Training Camp Begins, Penn State Hosts the Lasch Bash
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Before Penn State reports for training camp Sunday, a group of potential future Lions will gather for the summer's final recruiting fling. Penn State calls it the Lasch Bash, an event that marks the ceremonial end of the summer recruiting period.
Penn State will host numerous prospects Saturday for a party that head coach James Franklin called a "springboard into the next recruiting class." Though the 2023 recruiting class will be well represented, Franklin and his staff are inviting some of the region's top prospects of the 2024 and '25 classes to the Lasch Bash.
After that, recruiting enters a one-month "dead period" as teams begin preparing for the 2022 season. The Nittany Lions, most of whom already are on campus, report Sunday for training camp, which begins Monday.
"[The Lasch Bash is] always the thing we’ve tried to look at as putting the finishing touches on the summer recruiting period," Franklin said at Big Ten Media Days. "I wouldn't necessarily say the [2023] class, because there's still some moving parts, but kind of the finishing touches on that. It's not really a recruiting day. It's time for them just to come and have fun. We don't really do presentations. It's just, come and enjoy yourself. But it's always kind of been looked at as a springboard into the next recruiting class."
Penn State has a consensus top-10 recruiting class for 2023 according to the key sites: ESPN ranks it fifth, while 247Sports, On3 and Rivals rank it eighth as of July 29. According to John Garcia, Jr., Sports Illustrated's director of football recruiting, Penn State was one of the hottest teams in recruiting this summer, right behind Ohio State in the Big Ten.
"Had the Nittany Lions been able to hold on to some key commitments who had a change of heart, including Elite 11 Finalist Marcus Stokes [who flipped to Florida], the outlook of the class would be stronger," Garcia wrote.
Penn State's 2023 recruiting class stands at 18 commitments, having recently lost Pennsylvania receiver Yazeed Haynes to a decommitment. Franklin and his staff also are looking for a quarterback to replace Stokes.
But the group otherwise holds firm following a strong July in which it landed commitments from Pennsylvania's top-ranked running back and Virginia's top-ranked linebacker.
Franklin said he has uncovered a "pretty good correlation" between players who attend Lasch Bash or the annual White Out and positive commitment rates. Franklin usually tries to keep Lasch Bash numbers reasonable to provide for more one-on-one time. Saturday's event, however, is a little larger because it's "hard to tell a good player no," Franklin said.
"Our [recruiting] staff has gotten a little bit bigger, so I think that will help with that," Franklin said. "But it will still take some work, and the next day we're right into camp. We'll manage that the best we possibly can."
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