Pennsylvania high school football: Top junior running back recruits for the 2024 season

A pair of Harrisburg teammates - Messiah Mickens and D'Antae Sheffey - lead the junior running back recruits in Pennsylvania for the 2024 high school football season

Trinity's Messiah Mickens cuts loose on a run during the first quarter of a PIAA District 3 Class 2A semifinal game against Delone Catholic at Delone Catholic High School on Friday, November 4, 2022, in McSherrystown. Mickens has transferred to Harrisburg after two seasons at Trinity. / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

The 2024 Pennsylvania high school football season is upon us, and it is time to take a look at some of highest rated recruits in the state. In this series, we will focus on the top recruits at a handful of positions for a specific graduating class.

We started by introducing you to the top senior recruits at nine different positions - quarterbacks, running backs, linebackers, edge rushers, wide receivers, defensive backs, tight ends offensive linemen and defensive linemen.

Then we moved to the top junior recruits, where we started with the quarterbacks and now we will take a look at the top junior running back recruits.

Of the 21 ranked players for the class of 2026 on 247Sports in Pennsylvania for the 2026 class, there are four running backs listed - Messiah Mickens of Harrisburg, Marquez Wimberly of Nazareth, D'Antae Sheffey of Harrisburg and Sy'eer Coleman of Imhotep Charter.

Mickens is committed to Penn State and Sheffey is committed to Syracuse, while Wimberly and Coleman are uncommitted as of now.

All rankings are based off 247Sports.com.

Top 4 junior running back recruits in Pennsylvania:

1. Messiah Mickens, Harrisburg; 5-foot-10, 200 pounds (No. 5 overall in Pennsylvania 2026 class)
Committed to Penn State

Rushed for 961 yards in each of his first two seasons at Trinity and transferred to Harrisburg this season. He scored 18 touchdowns on the ground as a freshman and then 14 touchdowns in his sophomore season. Als has 29 catches combined in the two seasons.

Committed to Penn State, he held more than 20 offers, including Georgia, Oregon, Notre Dame and Alabama.

2. Marquez Wimberly, Nazareth; 5-foot-9, 190 pounds (No. 14 overall)
Uncommitted

Last season, he accounted for more than 1,000 yards of offense and 14 touchdowns. He ran for 800 yards on 100 carries and had 15 catches for 215 yards.

Uncommitted, he holds offers from Syracuse, West Virginia and Florida A&M.

3. D'Antae Sheffey, Harrisburg; 5-foot-11, 180 pounds (No. 16 overall)
Committed to Syracuse

Another transfer to Harrisburg, Sheffey spent his first two seasons at State College, where he ran for 1,725 yards and 22 touchdowns as a freshman and 468 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.

Committed to Syracuse, he also held offers to Wisconsin, Virginia Tech and Cincinnati, among others.

4. Sy'eer Coleman, Imhotep Charter; 6-foot-0, 200 pounds (No. 17 overall)
Uncommitted

Ran for 469 yards and seven touchdowns last season as Imhotep won the PIAA CLass 5A state championship.

Uncommitted, he holds offers from Oregon, Penn State and Wisconsin, among others.

Stay tuned to SBLive Pennsylvania all season long for all of your high school football coverage. You can check out our Pennsylvania high school football scoreboards all season long.

-- Ryan Isley  | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sblivepa