News & Thoughts about PSU Recruiting, Transfer Portal, etc.

Perhaps the most jolting aspect of the straight-set loss to Pitt was the implications about recruiting. PSU took the court with a front line lineup made up entirely of transfer students. Only the back row players and the setter were high school recruits to Penn State.


Pitt, on the other hand, fielded a lineup composed entirely of players who came to Pitt from high school.

This glaring difference and the current dearth of high-level commits for 2025 and 2026 is concerning. It seems clear to me that PSU can only achieve long-term competitive participation at the top level of D1 volleyball by finding a top-level recruiter to bring on board as part of the coaching staff.

seeyajohn .  Your premise about the quality of incoming PSU recruits may very well be correct, and according to the recruiting services it is, to a degree.  But I'm not so sure the recruiting services are very accurate these days.  There isn't any one go-to service, which was what PrepVolleyball was in its hay day. 

Moreover, there are way more high level players these days than there were as recently as eight-to-ten years ago, when there generally was a significant talent gap between top-10 and top 11-20 ranked players, and a huge gap between top-10 and, say, the top 50-100 (with there always being exceptions).  Today, a top 50-100 ranked player may not be all that different from a top 11-20 ranked player, or even a top-10 ranked player.  There are just so many highly-skilled players, and so many clubs, it's pretty easy for a highly-talented player on a less-prominent club to get lost in the crowd.  Plus, players rise in the rankings depending on who is recruiting them, which helps put them on the radars of the recruiting services.  That happened with both Izzy Starck and Ava Falduto, who in their sophomore seasons were ranked anywhere from low teens to the mid-30s.  By the end of their senior seasons, they were ranked #1 and #4/5, respectively.

Looking ahead, the Penn State staff has recruited a fantastic foundation with 2024 recruits setter Izzy Starck (consensus #1 overall recruit) and libero Ava Falduto (#4 or #5 overall).  The setter-libero duo is probably the most important in volleyball.  In terms of 2025 front row recruits, l think you'll be very pleasantly surprised by Gabby Nichols -- a very athletic 6-4 player, whose father had a brief NBA career and is currently an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers.  I think Gabby will outperform her ranking (whatever it is) by a lot.  And 6-4 Alexis Ewing is possibly even more athletic (her dad, Patrick, had a hall-of-fame NBA career and her mom was a College VB All-American -- I think the genes are there) -- and she skipped a grade, so she's a year younger than the other 2025s.  Will she continue to develop and improve?  Who knows.  But the potential to be uber- successful is definitely there.  The final 2025 front row recruit, 6-4 Marin Collins, is the least known, and lowest ranked, but people who have seen her play a lot say she is very good.  Time will tell, but it is way early to write her (or any of the 2025s) off as being not good enough for Penn State to compete at the highest level.

As to the 2026s, the three verbal front row commits look to me to be a high-end group.  6-4 Finley Kryskowiak was the #12/13 ranked recruit overall when she committed in June 2024, and is excelling this season.   Her dad, Larry, had a solid 10-year NBA career (anyone see a recruiting pattern here?).  Again, I could easily see her ranked in the top-10 before she graduates.  Although 6-0 Haley Burgdorf was only ranked #40/#68 overall when she committed in 2024, she was the #1-ranked OH in talent-rich Illinois, reportedly has excellent ball control skills, and was already touching 10-2 this past spring as a sophomore.  Six-rotation player, anyone? 2026 MB recruit Kendall Northern was ranked #24/26 overall, already touches 10-6 👀, and was heavily recruited by big name programs.  She is going to really surprise, in a good way, I think.
 
So although you may be right, and Penn State may be bereft of home-grown high-level talent in the coming years, I think you are underestimating the talent of the 2025 and 2026 classes. Remember, the recruiting services ain't what they used to be -- for good and ill -- and there are far more really good players out there than there used to be, so there's not as much distance between #5 and #50 as there used to be. I think Penn State has recruited very well. (p.s. 2025 libero Lexi Gin and 2026 6-2 setter/RS Danielle Whitmire are both excellent, high-end players, regardless of what their rankings may be).

Finally, the narrative (not necessarily your belief, but the belief of many) that Penn State's reliance on the transfer portal in Coach Katie's first three seasons somehow speaks with finality to how she will approach recruiting in the future (and her prospects for recruiting success in the future), overlooks the roster and recruiting portfolio that Coach Katie inherited in 2022.  The 2021 starting OHs Adanna Rollins and Erika Pritchard (both transfers-in under Russ Rose) had graduated, as had starting RS Jonni Parker.  Star MB Kaitlyn Hord had abandoned the program for Nebraska. Alexa Markley, the sole incoming OH/RS recruit, had been ranked #87 overall by PrepVolleyball.com.  Beyond that, the cupboard was mostly bare. 

Hello tranfer portal and Zoe Weatherington and Kash Williams!  2023 was pretty much the same story (no offense to Karis Willow, who may still excell, but was raw).  So again, hello Jess Mruzek and Cam Hannah via the transfer portal! For this 2024 season, although the staff was able to attract Starck and Falduto -- both super recruits -- they had missed out on the premier front row players in the 2024 class (that's not surprising for a brand new staff -- and remember, star recruit Chloe Chicoine had decommitted in 2021 when Russ Rose announced his retirement). Enter redshirt freshman 6-2 RS/Opp Caroline Jurevicius (#17 overall in 2023) and 6-5 Jr. MB Maggie Mendelsen (#4 overall).  That's filling a recruiting pipeline that had been pretty empty, not choosing the transfer portal over attracting home grown talent.

I'm obviously bullish on Coach Katie's recruiting prowess. Time will tell. But I think it's a mistake to look at the past three seasons' transfer portal activity as indicative of how Coach Katie and her staff will approach the future or the success they will have recruiting high-level players.

Penn State commit Ava Jurevicius and her high school team.

Ironically she — Davidson — was Izzies Colorado Juniors coach if I got that right. 

I do believe it is pretty hard the position KSC stepped into. With having to not only uphold but actually bring back PSU to its typical standard while in the new transfer portal era and also following the legacy of Russ Rose. I think priority may have been to get PSU to a win now type of team because imagine the fall off in the long run if KSC wasn’t able to put together a team who could make it into post season and actually compete still. It’s clear that PSU’s level of play had gone down during Russ’s last few years and I’m sure that had an effect on getting some talented top ranked recruits during that time. But I believe if KSC hadn’t been able to get some of the top players in the portal like she has been, we wouldn’t see some of the players like Ava and Izzy and the future recruits still wanting to play for Penn State. I think it has to be noted and remembered the way many of these transfers have spoken not only about Penn State but about KSC. Of course there are players who I’m sure would jump at the opportunity to play at a school like Penn State, but I think what is even more impressive is the confidence these players have in being guided by KSC. For the most part, the transfers that have come in with KSC as the head coach seemed to have a great understanding of the legacy of Penn State and have all only spoken highly of the trust they had with KSC as their head coach. What I think I’ve noticed in most of the players KSC has gotten through the portal is their ability to bring a hunger/fire onto the court. Not to speak badly on Mac, but I think she may be the only transfer so far that didn’t bring the energy a Penn State team needed. And with the seniors who had eligibility but transferred out like Hord, Blossom, even Rollins, etc., although all were very talented, I do not believe they all played with that type of fire we would expect from a Penn State team (but was very happy to see Blossom find that fire again with SD).

I also do believe KSC has developed every player on the team that has been there under her as the HC. I think it may be a bit harder to see for some players like Markley and Willow as they do not see much playing time, but with Markley for instance, her serve has improved greatly and she looks to be taking smarter shots to avoid being blocked as much. I also believe Willow was hurt for a time hindering her development. Even with players like Zoe, Kash, Elisia, Clark. By the end of the season they were much improved compared to the start. Taylor has become a much better offensive weapon for the team as well and she even had a big injury that halted her development. Although inconsistent at this time, her serve looks to cause problems when it is in. I think we all can agree Grimes has improved her game greatly to become the starting libero for the team (and I’m hoping that Pitt game was just a fluke because she looked great and what is more expected from her against Yale). Both Cam and Jess I believe are hitting at much better percentages and not just swinging into the blocks. Cam’s serve and back row play looks to be continuing to improve and I believe she could be a 6 rotation player by the end of the season. A. Starck has been a staple in our back row and from what I’ve seen this year, she is also taking better swings when in the front row. Joce’s serve has proven to be very effective and she has made some nice plays during the moments she is in. I also would have faith in Quinn as a setter if they ever do choose to run a 6-2 system.

I also think KSC’s method of developing players may be different than what some would want/like. I think it has been pointed out previously but I think she is ok with having a player stay in and make mistakes to learn from them compared to subbing them out. Like with Zoe and CJ, both had long leashes and were given the chance to work through their mistakes. I think this will greatly help a player like CJ in the long run as she still has 3 more years after this season, which could be a big part as to why she is still seeing more playing time than Markley. Even with Zoe, although frustrating to see someone with that much power get blocked that often, she seemed to learn to tip/hit around the block better towards the end of her career at PSU. Realistically though for Markley, she is not going to play over Cam or Jess this season and I think she is a better OH than RS so I do hope she decides to finish out at Penn State because I think she will be critical next year. Much like Nia Reed who had to watch Frantti and Lee play over her. She had huge moments when subbed in, but still did not get the true starting spot until her last year and she carried the team. It does seem like she is starting to get added into rotations a bit more in a few games, but there has to be something we aren’t seeing likely at practice that keeps CJ as the starter. I think I have been one of Markley’s biggest supporters since she’s gotten on the team, but can admit if CJ can continue to find ways around the block and improve her block she should be the starter at RS.