The best Penn State football recruiting class since? 3 things to know about Peyton Falzone (2025)

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Penn State football: From Drew Allar to Ethan Grunkemyer to Peyton Falzone What makes Peyton Falzone so special? What impact does Peyton Falzone have on Penn State's 2026 recruiting class? References

Penn State football is in the early stages of building its best recruiting class in four years.

Adding its second top-tier quarterback could go a long way in making that happen − to produce Penn State's first Top 10 class since its 2022 group that featured Abdul Carter, Drew Allar, Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen and Dani Dennis-Sutton.

Penn State received a verbal commitment from Nazareth High's Peyton Falzone (6-foot 5, 200 pounds) during last weekend's spring practice sessions. He's he Lions' second four-star quarterback pledge for the 2026 recruiting class.

Commits cannot make their verbal pledges binding until December.

Falzone is a rising national recruiting star and the 11th-ranked quarterback in the nation and No. 4 overall recruit in Pennsylvania, according to 247Sports. So far, the Nittany Lions have received pledges from three of the top four in-state prospects.

Here are three things to know about the future Penn State quarterback and his 2026 recruiting class:

The best Penn State football recruiting class since? 3 things to know about Peyton Falzone (1)

Penn State football: From Drew Allar to Ethan Grunkemyer to Peyton Falzone

Falzone's quarterback coach is Ohio's Brad Maendler, who also has trained PSU starting QB Drew Allar and top backup Ethan Grunkemyer. He said this about Falzone in a recent post on X, formerly known as Twitter:

"In my 18 years of QB training, I’ve had so many good ones, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a QB who’s as physically talented as 2026 Nazareth (PA) QB Peyton Falzone," Maendler wrote. "On top of those physical attributes is a top 1% drive/work ethic to improve. Still a work in progress but VERY excited about where things are headed!"

His high school coach at Nazareth is his father, Tom Falzone.

What makes Peyton Falzone so special?

Falzone was named to the Pennsylvania Class 6A all-state team as a junior after throwing for 2,135 yards and 23 touchdowns to go along with 697 rushing yards and eight more scores. As a sophomore, Falzone threw for 2,427 yards and 19 TDs.

What impact does Peyton Falzone have on Penn State's 2026 recruiting class?

Falzone is the 10th member of this Nittany Lion recruiting class that's ranked eighth nationally by 247Sports and is behind, for now, fellow Big Ten teams USC (first), Ohio State (third) and Illinois (seventh).

Penn State now has seven prestigious four-star recruits, including quarterback Falzone and California's Troy Huhn, who verballed to PSU last June.

The Lions other top members of the 2026 class are Harrisburg offensive tackle Kevin Brown and running back Messiah Mickens − two of the top prospects at their positions nationally − safety Matt Sieg (McDonald) and edge rusher Daniel Jennings (Princeton, West Virginia).

Penn State's most recent Top 10 recruiting finish nationally was sixth, by that 2022 group that forms the nucleus of this year's team driving toward another College Football Playoff appearance and national title bid.

Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn State football recruiting: Who is quarterback Peyton Falzone?