For LaVar Arrington II, Signing With Penn State 'Doesn't Even Feel Real'

Arrington, a son of Penn State's Hall of Fame linebacker, signs with Penn State's 2025 recruiting class.

A general view of Penn State's Beaver Stadium following a game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Penn State Nittany Lions. / Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

In 2016, LaVar Arrington returned to Penn State to serve as the honorary captain for the Nittany Lions' regular-season finale against Michigan State. Arrington brought his son, LaVar II, onto the field with him. Eight years later, LaVar Arrington II remembered that moment as the "start of what was yet to come."

LaVar Arrington II signed with Penn State's 2025 recruiting class Wednesday, following his father as a linebacker with the Nittany Lions. A 4-star prospect from Charter Oak High in California, Arrington will enroll at Penn State with his twin sister Laila and a father who won't miss many games. LaVar Arrington, who has partnered with Penn State on an NIL initiative, became a College Football Hall of Fame linebacker with the Nittany Lions in the late 1990s. But on a Wednesday signing day Zoom, Arrington wasn't the center of attention.

"Penn State got better today," Franklin told the Arrington family. "And like I mentioned a long time ago, I love the connection we have with the family, but we would be recruiting you whether that was your dad or not, and you earned this on your own."

Arrington II, who committed on July 4, chose Penn State over Oregon, Tennessee and UCLA. He is a 4-star prospect, according to the 247Sports Composite, and a top-10 linebacker nationally. Arrington made 12 sacks as a junior at Charter Oak, demonstrating some of the burst and tackling proficiency that made his father the second overall pick of the 2000 NFL Draft.

Arrington took no credit for his son's decision but certainly was proud of it.

"He made the decision himself, he and Laila, and I'm so beyond humbled by them wanting to go there and continue to build our legacy," Arrington said. "Me and my wife [Trishia] raised them there. I don't take being a Penn Stater lightly. He's been begging my wife, he's been begging me, to go to the tattoo parlor to get the same tattoo of the Nittany Lion I got on my arm when I committed my junior year to go to Penn State. He really embraces everything I've always talked about, and it is very, very connected to what I learned being a part of the Penn State community."

Penn State opened the community to welcome Arrington II on Wednesday. Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons introduced Arrington II on the livestream, and recruiting coordinator Alan Zemaitis, an all-America cornerback at Penn State, delivered his own message.

"It's time for you to start your own legacy now," Zemaitis said.

Franklin acknowledged LaVar Arrington II's long recruiting arc but added that he believes this commitment 'is just the beginning" for him.

"To watch your development from last year to this year, I think you're one of the most improved players in the country," Franklin said. "And we think you're coming at the perfect time, because your trajectory is just through the roof right now."

Andy Frank, Penn State's general manager of personnel and recruitment, said the program sought to delineate Arrington from his father during the recruiting process. What Penn State's staff responded to was Arrington's consistent improvement over the past three seasons.

"He's a guy who has continually gotten better throughout his career," Frank said on a media Zoom call. "I think if you were to rewind to a couple years, I don’t know if the world would have said he’s a Penn State-level player. But if you look from year to year to year, he just keeps getting better and better, and you saw it his senior year. He really flashed on film. He’s a guy we’re super-excited about.

"I think he’s got the ability to rush off the edge, I think he can play stand-up [end] a little bit as well. He’s got some twitch, he’s got some bend. I think he’ a guy who has a lot of versatility and is going to be a really good player for us down the road."

In an interview with Brian Tripp on the signing day livestream, Arrington II, who will enroll in January, said his earliest memories of Penn State involved asking to watch his father's college highlights. He also has the opportunity to wear Penn State's No. 11, otherwise known as the "Stix" of the Nittany Lions' defense, that his father popularized.

"It's definitely not easy," Arrington II said. "I have to work as hard as everybody else. It's not just my name that got me there. I have to work hard, and ultimately it paid off. ... As a little kid, the goal I've always had for myself is to make it to Penn State, and now that it's finally happening, it doesn't even feel real."

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