James Franklin and his staff have added their first recruit to Penn State football’s class of 2023 with Mathias Barnwell’s commitment.

The Virginia tight end announced his decision with a video on his Twitter on Monday afternoon.

“I am blessed and very humbled to announce, I’m a thousand percent committed to Penn State University,” Barnwell said.

While he was only playing his freshman year of high school football this past fall, the Spotsylvania, Virginia native already comes in at 6’5″ and 240 pounds. He’s racked up 15 offers in his young football career, most notably from USC, Virginia Tech, Nebraska, and Tennessee.

With plenty of his career ahead of him at Spotsylvania High School, it seems as if the sky is the limit for Barnwell. The tight end hauled in 10 catches for 154 yards and five touchdowns last season, as he utilized his size to make some impressive plays over would-be defenders.

The Nittany Lions have a lot of depth at the tight end position, but currently have none in their 2021 recruiting class. Barnwell could help restrengthen that spot after Pat Freiermuth, Brenton Strange, and Theo Johnson finish up their careers in Happy Valley.

Barnwell is clearly Penn State’s youngest commit, and won’t be able to sign a Nation Letter of Intent to play in Happy Valley until December 2022. Until then, though, check out the tight end’s impressive highlight reel from his freshman season of high school football here.