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From left to right, Christian Colon, Ellison Jordan, Penn State defensive line coach Sean Spencer and Shane Simmons pose for a photo at Beaver Stadium over the winter. All three recruits are now committed to the Nittany Lions.

If this script is starting to sound familiar, that’s no coincidence.

Another day, another defensive tackle commitment for Penn State. The seats are filling up in the Nittany Lions’ 2016 recruiting class and another lineman wasn’t going to wait around to claim his spot.

The latest here is Baltimore tackle Ellison Jordan, who gave a verbal commitment to Penn State and coach James Franklin on Friday afternoon. He becomes the 14th member of the 2016 class and the third defensive tackle to come aboard in a span of just four days.

Add in Atlanta punter Blake Gillikin, who committed on Sunday, and the Lions have had one of their busiest recruiting weeks in recent memory.

Jordan’s decision came not 20 hours after Charlotte’s Christian Colon decided to announce his choice nearly five months earlier than expected and pick the Lions. And it placed Penn State’s current class in the national top 10 rankings of each major recruiting service alongside Big Ten East foes Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State.

Penn State entered the week without any commitments from defensive tackles, though the Lions had scholarship offers out to at least 16 tackles according to multiple recruiting databases.

As it turned out, that 16th offer is what got everything rolling.

The Lions extended a scholarship to New Jersey’s Michael Dwumfour on Sunday after he participated in a camp at Penn State. Dwumfour committed less than 48 hours later, picking the Lions over Pitt.

Suddenly Colon moved his decision up to this week after originally planning to finalize things in November. So maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Jordan would follow suit.

Jordan had recently cut down his list of roughly 20 offers to three, announcing that he would pick between Penn State, Virginia Tech and home-state Maryland. But he had not given any timeframe on when he would choose between them.

Of the three new tackles, Jordan carries the highest rating. A four-star recruit who also had offers from Michigan State, Virginia, Boston College, Georgia Tech and Pitt, among others, Jordan is the top-rated defensive tackle in Maryland. Only fellow Penn State pledge Shane Simmons, a rush end, is ranked higher in the state on the defensive line.

At 6-foot, 266 pounds, Jordan immediately brings to mind another stout Penn State tackle in Anthony Adams, who played at 6-foot, 285 pounds as a senior before being taken in the second round of the 2003 NFL draft.

Jordan’s height certainly hasn’t hurt him so far.

As always, fair warning to turn your volume down before hitting play

Jordan has already had a productive career at Baltimore’s Gilman School, the alma mater of current Penn State guard Brian Gaia, who started out as a defensive tackle himself with the Lions.

With Penn State potentially facing some depth issues at defensive tackle starting in 2016, it’s not a surprise that the Lions have aggressively recruited the position in this cycle.

And it wouldn’t be a surprise if they still weren’t done at the position this year.

Philadelphia’s Karamo Dioubate, a tackle from Prep Charter, is the top-rated defensive lineman in the state. And though it may be a long shot, the Lions will certainly continue to recruit New Jersey’s Rashan Gary, the No. 1 overall recruit in the country.

But for now, Jordan anchors a rapidly expanding group of new linemen for Penn State.


Below is Penn State’s updated recruiting map, which can be expanded by clicking on the full-screen icon in the upper right corner of the frame. Clicking on the list icon in the upper left will bring up the names of Penn State’s commitments and targets to show where the Lions have concentrated their recruiting efforts.

All recruit rankings and offers represent the 247Sports Composite, which averages the ratings of prospects from 247Sports, Rivals, Scout and ESPN.