By Mark Pszonak
There didn’t seem to be many doubts that 2026 running back Messiah Mickens would play his college football at Penn State. The Harrisburg High School star, a local feeder program for the Nittany Lions, committed to Penn State back in August, 2023. Everything was going smoothly until Penn State’s running backs coach, Ja’Juan Seider recently departed for Notre Dame. Now the Nittany Lions are facing an uphill battle against the Irish and several other programs.
NIL is very important in the recruiting world nowadays, but so are relationships. Mickens developed a strong one with Coach Seider, which immediately caused concern in Happy Valley when the coaching change occurred. This post on X (formerly Twitter) didn’t lessen the concerns:
My guy🤞🏽 pic.twitter.com/qc2j4i1ryJ
— Messiah Mickens (@messiah_mickens) February 11, 2025
With Mickens now being more open-minded regarding his recruitment, despite still being committed to Penn State, it has recently brought out the sharks to try and take advantage of the situation. More offers have arrived, including from Baylor and Indiana in the last two days, and official visits have been scheduled.
Mickens will visit Penn State from May 29th to June 1st, but more concerning for Nittany Lion fans is that he will also visit North Carolina, South Carolina and yes, Notre Dame.
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OV locked in May 29th -June 1st 🦁 pic.twitter.com/gVlcGVL7yE
— Messiah Mickens (@messiah_mickens) February 18, 2025
Penn State has never had much difficulty recruiting elite running backs, so if they do lose Mickens, finding a replacement likely won’t be very difficult. However, this is a bit different just because Mickens is a Central Pennsylvania kid who has been committed to Penn State for 18 months. He clearly wanted to play for the Nittany Lions. But does he still want to?
