Former three-star recruit turning heads as freshman WR at Penn State

When the average college football recruiting fan thinks of impact freshmen, they normally look at the five-star recruits as the most likely to play right away and play well.

When the pads are on for real and everyone is on campus, star rankings eventually fade away in relevance, though. What matters is being able to make the transition from high school ball to college ball and to do it quickly and well, and in Happy Valley, the Penn State Nittany Lions apparently have a freshman wideout who is doing just that in former three-star recruit Tyseer Denmark.

“Tyseer has really flashed and done some really nice things,” head coach James Franklin r ecently told the media (h/t On3 ). “This is very, very different. So, there’s still an adjustment period going on. There’s a pretty significant buzz in the program about him.”

Those are some big words for a freshman wide receiver at a program like Penn State, but this isn't just hot air from Franklin in an effort to hype up his 2024 recruiting class.

In fact, out of all the freshmen who came to Penn State in 2024, he relayed that Denmark is the closest to seeing the field and making an impact.

“It’s not one thing. It’s route running, it’s being competitive, it’s his confidence with his hands and catching the ball, it’s his ability to retain information,” Franklin sexplained. “He’s just doing enough good things that you think you’ll have a chance, but it’s not like it’s one specific thing that’s standing out.”

Denmark was ranked as the No. 76 wideout in the 2024 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. He chose Penn State over Ohio State, Rutgers and Oregon, among others.