UPDATE: Saturday, 12:20 p.m.
ALTOONA, Pa. -- Penn State landed a commitment today from the No. 104 recruit in the nation, 6-foot-8 center Kebba Njie, a 4-star prospect from La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind.
Njie chose Penn State over Butler and Kansas State. He is the first of three high-profile recruits that Penn State is involved with who will make their announcements before Friday.
You can read Njie's full commitment comments in the tweet below.
1000% Commited 🦁🔵 pic.twitter.com/93ikeCdpej
— Kebba Njie (@kebba_njie23) September 18, 2021
"This was a very tough decision and I'm really blessed to have great schools who wanted me to come to their program," he wrote. "But that being said, I am excited to announce that I am committing to Penn State!"
How big of a get is this for Penn State? According to 247Sports' database, Njie's recruiting score of .9499 makes him the second-highest rated recruit ever (during the modern tracking period) for Penn State, behind only Tony Carr (.9801) and ahead of No. 3 Lamar Stevens (.9449).
Here's a breakdown of the Lions' all-time top recruits.
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ORIGINAL STORY
The next week could turn out to be the biggest Penn State basketball recruiting week, well, ever, with three elite prospects that the Nittany Lions are heavily in on set to announce their decisions.
New Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry has been shooting very high in recruiting since taking over the job in March. He not only has gotten involved with several high-profile prospects, he also has Penn State very much in the mix for them.
The Nittany Lions already have landed 3-star combo guard Jameel Brown, who originally committed to Purdue when Shrewsberry was there but decommitted after the coach left. Brown, from Haverford School in Philadelphia, committed to Penn State on Aug. 23.
The next week will be massive for Shrewsberry and Penn State, with the following players set to announce:
** Kebba Njie (6-8, 205 center): He's a 4-star from La Porte, Ind., who will announce at noon Saturday. He's rated the No. 4 prospect in Indiana and No. 104 nationally by 247Sports. He also has offers from Butler and Kansas State.
** Dereck Lively (7-1, 220 center): This is the big one. The really big one. If Penn State could somehow land the 5-star Lively, it would be a massive game changer for the program. He's the No. 2 prospect in the country (recently was No. 1 before re-ranking) and will decide between Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Michigan, Penn State and others.
It was announced today that Lively will reveal his decision Monday at 6 p.m.
Breaking: 2022’s No. 2 overall prospect Dereck Lively II will announce his college decision on Monday, Sept. 20 at 6pm ET, he tells @On3Recruits. pic.twitter.com/vDkrXf9hDo
— Joseph Tipton (@TiptonEdits) September 17, 2021
Why would Penn State be in play for such a coveted recruit as Lively? His mother is Kathy Drysdale, who scored more than 1,000 points for the Penn State women's team from 1988-92. She also works for the university. Lively is from Bellefonte, which is nearby State College, although he goes to Westtown School in West Chester.
It still would be a major upset if Lively picks Penn State over the likes of Kentucky or Duke. Still, this is one of the remarkable small-world stories where the stars have aligned making Penn State any kind of player for a superstar recruit, so there is at least hope.
** Otega Oweh (6-4, 180 shooting guard): The 4-star prospect from Blair Academy in New Jersey is rated the No. 73 recruit in the nation. His name should be very familiar to Penn State fans, as his brother is Odafe Oweh (formerly Jayson), a recent Lion football standout and current member of the Baltimore Ravens.
Oweh will announce his decision next Friday. He has a bunch of offers from the likes of Illinois, Oklahoma, Georgia, Miami, St. John's and others.
Just this week, Oweh's brother, Kaylen, was added to the Penn State basketball team as a walk-on. Many Lion fans are hoping that is a sign that Otega will join the program, as well.
Lively, Oweh and Brown all played AAU ball for Team Final, so the recruiting connection to all three of them certainly is interesting for Penn State.
How many of the three prospects ultimately will choose Penn State? Njie seems like a strong possibility Saturday, and at this point it would be a surprise if Oweh does not come to Happy Valley.
As for Lively? It's hard to see him passing up Kentucky or Duke for Penn State, but this is a rare situation because of his family ties to PSU. And there's also the Team Final connection with some other recruits. Still, it would be shocking if Monday rolls around and Lively picks Penn State.
