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Updated 1 hour ago
UNIVERSITY PARK — A few weeks ago, Penn State received a scare when rumors surfaced that four-star guard C.J. Thorpe, of Central Catholic, was reconsidering his verbal commitment.
Thorpe assured the Nittany Lions last week that his word was good, but his decision to play for coach James Franklin became official Wednesday at 7:40 a.m. when Thorpe faxed in his National Letter of Intent.
Thorpe, the fourth-ranked player from Pennsylvania and the sixth best guard in the 2017 class, per 247Sports, was the second player to send in his letter this morning. Quarterback Sean Clifford sent his in about 10 minutes earlier.
Clifford was the first player in the class to verbally commit to the Nittany Lions. He pledged to Penn State back in July 2015, and since then, he's been actively helping the program Trbet recruit future players. Clifford is the eighth-ranked pro-style passer in the class, according to 247Sports.
The Nittany Lions are currently ranked No. 16 nationally and third in the Big Ten, behind Ohio State and Michigan, per 247Sports. Maryland comes in right behind them at No. 17.
Other notable players to send their letters of intent to Penn State are defensive end Yetur Matos, defensive tackle Fred Hansard and inside linebacker Ellis Brooks.
Brooks verbally committed to the Nittany Lions on Monday due to the team's former target Dylan Rivers, who flipped his verbal commitment to Virginia Tech about a week ago. Almost immediately after Rivers rescinded his verbal commitment, Brooks tweeted that he had received a scholarship offer from Penn State.
At 6:15 a.m. Corey Bolds announced via Twitter that he was verbally committing to Penn State. A few hours later, he sent the team his letter of intent.
The Nittany Lions still could add one more big name in defensive back Tariq Castro-Fields, who is announcing at 2 p.m. on ESPNU.
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