Penn State Recruiting: What's the Future at Quarterback?

The Nittany Lions' highly ranked 2024 recruiting class continues its search for a quarterback.

Dan Rainville/USA Today Sports

Penn State's future at quarterback reaches a turning point this week, as two recruiting prospects are scheduled to announce their commitments. The first is 4-star quarterback Cutter Boley, who is scheduled to announce May 18. The second is 4-star quarterback Michael Van Buren, who has set his announcement for May 20.

The combination of announcements will inform how Penn State either continues, or resets, its quarterback recruiting for the 2024 and 2025 classes. Remember that Penn State currently has just three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, and the NCAA Transfer Portal looms over the end of each season.

Penn State's 2024 recruiting class ranks sixth nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite, with 13 commits. But the class needs a quarterback. Which brings the Lions to this week.

Boley, among the top quarterbacks in the 2025 recruiting class, has announced a list of five finalists: Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, Florida State and Penn State. He is the 2025 class' No. 9 quarterback, according to the 247Sports Composite, and the top-ranked player in Kentucky. As a sophomore, Boley threw for 3,901 yards and 36 touchdowns at Lexington Christian Academy.

Boley (6-5, 205) also has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Miami and Notre Dame, among many others, and Penn State might be chasing Kentucky in the recruiting process, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. Still, his announcement is worth following to get a sense of where Penn State stands in the 2025 quarterback race.

Two days after Boley announces, top 2024 quarterback Michael Van Buren is scheduled to deliver his decision. Van Buren, a top prospect from Maryland, accelerated his announcement timeline from July to May. Van Buren had scheduled a June official visit to Penn State, one of his three finalists with Oregon and Maryland.

Van Buren is the nation's No. 23 quarterback, according to the 247Sports Composite, playing for one of the nation's most unique teams. He completed 57 percent of his passes last year for 812 yards and nine touchdowns over a nine-game schedule during which St. Frances Academy played road games in South Carolina, Texas, Illinois and Hawaii against some of the nation's top teams. Van Buren guided St. Frances Academy to an 8-1 record and a No. 7 ranking in the HSFA Top 100.

Penn State clearly is interested in Van Buren, whose 18th birthday prompted offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich to dance.

Penn State, however, isn't resting on those two announcements. The Lions have been recruiting another Ohio quarterback whose career arc could follow that of Drew Allar. Ethan Grunkemeyer, a rising 3-star quarterback from Olentangy High near Columbus, is beginning to generate the kind of attention Allar (a fellow Ohio quarterback) did before and during his senior year. Grunkemeyer threw for 2,649 yards as a junior and has received recent offers from Virginia, Indiana and Minnesota.

Grunkemeyer will return to Penn State on May 21 to compete in the Elite 11 Northeast Regional event, a qualifier for the Elite 11 Finals this summer.

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.