During his senior year of high school, offensive tackle Nolan Rucci turned down Penn State football and instead became a Wisconsin Badger. Barely three years later, the redshirt junior is preparing to suit up in the blue and white.

“I just felt like it was a great opportunity for me to move on and have some greener pastures and have a better opportunity to get on the field,” Rucci said Tuesday.

Rucci, a former five-star prospect, was ranked the No. 5 offensive tackle overall and the No. 1 player in Pennsylvania in the Class of 2021 when he committed to Wisconsin over Penn State, according to 247Sports. He cited Paul Chryst’s program as having “a few more things” that outweighed the Nittany Lions.

After appearing in just six games over three seasons in Madison, Rucci is back in his home state to play in Happy Valley where his ties run deep. Familiarity with the school, relationship with the coaching staff, and increased playing time were factors in his decision.

Both of Rucci’s parents are Penn State alumni and his father was an offensive lineman for Joe Paterno in the 1990s. He hails from Lititz, Pennsylvania, which is only a short drive from State College.

Rucci went home last weekend and watched film with his dad. The chance to do that and talk to his high school coach has been helpful since he transferred to Penn State.

“I know my parents would appreciate it when we have a two-hour drive versus a 14,” Rucci said. “The fact that they can get out here and now I can get home on the weekends — just having those kinds of opportunities has been awesome — having a family out here and also having that connection here. I know my parents really love and appreciate this place.”

Penn State was in Rucci’s top two schools during his high school recruitment. Rucci thought highly of the coaching staff then, which made the decision to transfer to Happy Valley easier.

“I think one of the biggest things, especially at the end of my recruiting process, was just how cordial the coaches were. They respected my decision and I respected theirs,” Rucci said. “And at the end of the day when it came around to coming back to this place, they were just as awesome as the first time around.”

The program’s culture helped Rucci ease in. He described it as welcoming to transfers, which helped him settle in while he scrambled to figure out logistics. Rucci entered the portal on January 4 and committed to Penn State two days later.

“I felt nothing but welcomed by these guys, especially just coming in those first few weeks,” Rucci said. “It was a pretty quick transition going from playing in [Wisconsin’s] bowl game on the first and being in class on [January 8], so I had a lot to figure out as far as where I was gonna live, where I was driving, and stuff like that. So these guys have been really awesome and really welcoming.”

James Franklin also noticed how Rucci had settled in. Franklin mentioned that Rucci fits in with other players and is excited about how he’s grown since his arrival.

“Our guys love him. He’s fit in really well in the room,” Franklin said. “I think he’s really been excited about the development that he’s gotten so far in the weak period of time. And I think he enjoys the culture, the competitiveness of how we operate and do things.”

“There will be, I think, a pretty heated battle and competition in training camp,” Franklin continued. “I think we’ll have a really competitive battle at both left tackle and right tackle in training camp, and we expect [Rucci] to be a big part of that.”

Rucci will likely compete with junior Drew Shelton for the starting left tackle job. However, they can both play on the right side. Redshirt freshmen J’ven Williams and Anthony Donkoh are also names to watch at the tackle position.

Another enticing aspect of Penn State to Rucci was the chance to earn the starting job instead of receiving it. He was aware of the opportunities given the departures of Olu Fashanu and Caedan Wallace and was eager to earn the respect they had during their college careers.

“I know they had some opportunities just with the two starting tackles leaving,” Rucci said. “I think a really good thing [offensive line coach Phil Trautwein] said was to work my way up from the bottom of the roster, and I respect those guys that have been there because I know how I would feel, obviously, if there was somebody who automatically started.”