{"id":445105,"date":"2026-02-02T18:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/445105\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T18:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:55:12","slug":"penn-state-de-elijah-reeder-makes-another-signifcant-jump-in-2026-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/445105\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn State DE Elijah Reeder makes another signifcant jump in 2026 rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Future Penn State defenisve end Elijah Reeder<\/a> made another significant jump in the rankings recently. Following the updated ESPN300 for the 2026 recruiting class, the New Jersey edge rusher is now Penn State\u2019s No. 1-ranked recruit by not only Rivals, but also in the Industry Rankings.<\/p>\n

Previously a high three-star prospect by ESPN, Reeder not only earned his fourth star but is also ranked within the ESPN300, climbing all the way to No. 261 nationally. He also moved up 31 spots at the defensive end position, from No. 61 to No. 30 overall, and is ESPN\u2019s third-ranked player in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

The move comfortably assures that Reeder will stay a four-star prospect in the Industry Rankings. He\u2019s now ranked No. 238 nationally, with 400 players earning a four or five-star rating each year. Before both Rivals and ESPN updated their rankings, Reeder was ranked No. 525 in the Industry Rankings.<\/p>\n

The move also allowed Reeder to surpass Penn State\u2019s other defensive end, Jackson Ford<\/a>, as the top-ranked recruit in the class, according to the Industry Rankings. For those unaware, Rivals uses the Industry Rankings, which combines Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN for a cumulative grade,\u00a0to determine where each team ranks both nationally and in their conference each year<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Link: Penn State off to excellent start with CB Ryan Drakeford following junior day<\/a><\/p>\n

Both Ford and Reeder are Penn State\u2019s only two players who hold a four-star rating in the Industry Rankings. However, just last week, Rivals National Scouting Director Charles Power and his staff upgraded two other future Nittany Lions<\/a>, cornerbacks Josiah Zayas<\/a> and Tyrell Chatman<\/a>, to four-star prospects in Rivals\u2019 individual rankings. Zayas joined the Rivals300 and is now ranked No. 245 nationally. Chatman sits outside of the Rivals300 but holds a 90 overall rating, making him a four-star. <\/p>\n

Reeder is one of four 2026 prospects who will sign with Matt Campbell<\/a> and his staff this upcoming Wednesday, Feb. 4, during National Signing Day. His rise to not four-star status, but also playing for a school of Penn State\u2019s caliber, has been one of the more intriguing stories of the 2026 recruiting class.<\/p>\n

In an interview just last week with Blue White Illustrated<\/a>, Reeder admitted that he was leaning towards committing to Monmouth for football before Campbell and his staff made a late charge just two weeks before the early signing period. Now, just over 76 days later, he\u2019s considered one of the best players in the Mid-Atlantic region for his class and is set to play for one of the Big Ten\u2019s powerhouse programs next fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s honestly kind of weird for me,\u201d Reeder said last week when asked about his new ranking. \u201cI never thought I\u2019d end up playing at Penn State and becoming a four-star player, all of that. It\u2019s a blessing, though, knowing everyone who\u2019s helped me get to this point. It\u2019s honestly been crazy. I could\u2019ve never imagined any of that happening a couple of months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Future Penn State defenisve end Elijah Reeder made another significant jump in the rankings recently. Following the updated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[209367,399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-445105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-elijah-reeder-26-central-regional","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}