Penn State has moved to the front for one of the top young defensive linemen in the country.
247Sports reported Tuesday that the Nittany Lions are leading for Brynnen Thompson, a 6-foot-3, 260-pound defensive tackle from Laurel High School in Delaware. In 247Sports’ composite rankings, Thompson checks in as the No. 186 player nationally in the Class of 2028, the No. 22 defensive lineman overall and the No. 2 prospect in Delaware.
Penn State got in early with Thompson, offering him the week before he came to Beaver Stadium for Saturday’s 55-13 win over Buffalo. The Nittany Lions are competing with a list that also includes Bill O’Brien’s Boston College, Florida, Maryland, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas Tech.
Thompson said Penn State stood out immediately because of how he was received on campus.
“I feel like when I went to Penn State,” Thompson told Nittany Sports Now, “I was treated like I’d been there for a long time. Someone that, like, I wasn’t just another recruit. I felt like I was somebody.”
He also pointed to his conversation with Coach Matt Campbell, saying the coach spent time walking him through both the program and the bigger picture of the recruiting process.
“I didn’t have many questions for Coach (Matt) Campbell, but he was kind of giving me the ins and outs of what his what his qualities and character were, how his character was, and I mean, I loved him.”
Thompson said Campbell and his family about the people who can circle around recruits and try to take advantage.
“It’s like NIL agents and people trying to get a percentage of cuts and things like that,” he said. “And Coach Campbell’s kind of telling me to read through the lines.”
“He told me not to jump on the first thing and what good agencies do and how the go about percentages when it comes to taking money.”
Another connection Thompson has built at Penn State is with recruiting assistant and former PSU offensive lineman Steven Gonzalez.
“Coach Gonzo was the first Penn State personnel to coach and believe in me from start to finish of every game,” Thompson said. “He wasn’t trying to just recruit me, he was trying to better me.”
Thompson also knows the path another Delaware-area defensive lineman took to Penn State success. Dani Dennis-Sutton played high school football in Maryland, but he came from Millsboro, Delaware, which is less than a half hour from Laurel.
“He’s a big deal around here in Sussex County,” Thompson said. “Everybody talks about who he is, and he’s a really good player, in my opinion, sure. And now he’s on the Green Bay Packers team.”
For Thompson, the climb from a small town has made the attention even more meaningful. Laurel’s population is 4,684, and he said he tried to make himself stand out every time he stepped on the field.
“I kind of just went into every game like it’s like it’s the game of my life,” he said, “you know. Yep, I played my hardest every game. Even with, like, some games we played bigger upstate schools, and there wasn’t really a chance of us winning, I still tried my best to stand out from the rest of us.”
“Not many of us get shot… I kind of love the fact that, like, I come from a small area and still was able to be recruited and noticed by these big colleges and higher people.”
He says the film backs up the interest, too.
‘I’m explosive,” he said. “I hold my gap.
I’m twitchy. I get in there, I’m a hard hitter.
I pass rush really well, and not many people get out of my arms once I got ’em.”
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