WPIAL

Pine-Richland 2022 DE/OT Jalen Klemm Receives First D-I Offer from Nebraska

Published

2 years ago

May 27, 2021

High School Football Recruiting on PSN is sponsored by GameChangers Training, a tri-state leader in elite specific sports training for athletes of all ages. Lead trainer Ameer Dudley & the GameChangers staff believe that in order to be the best, you have to train like the best. GameChangers Training will give any athlete what the need to reach their personal goals... and beyond. For more information, call them at 724-888-1153 or 330-368-1050, or visit them online at gamechangerstraining.net.

Pine-Richland 2022 lineman Jalen Klemm received a very unexpected, but pleasant surprise on Wednesday as he received his first Division I offer.

Normally, a prospects first offer doesn’t come from a major Power Five program but that wasn’t the case with Klemm as he received an offer from the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Klemm is a 6-foot-6, 255-pound defensive end/offensive tackle that’s considered a diamond in the rough because he’s still fairly new to the game of football. This past season was Klemm’s first season playing the line after playing quarterback and free safety as a sophomore. Klemm is also fairly new to the area as he attended school in Los Angles as a freshman and moved to the North Catholic school district as a sophomore before moving to Pine-Richland as a junior. Prior to ninth grade, Klemm never played football as he participated in both basketball and baseball.

“I was on FaceTime with their defensive line coach and I was super surprised and definitely wasn’t expecting to be offered at that point,” Klemm tells Pittsburgh Sports Now. “I planned on going on a visit and attending camp there but the offer just came out of nowhere. We were talking about football and school and then Coach (Tony) Tuioti offered me. Honestly when that happened, I had now idea how to react. It took me a few seconds to realize but had just happened.

“Coach pointed out that they liked my size and athleticism and also how I’m kind of raw and believe that I have super potential. He believes that I have the potential to be very successful on either side of the ball, whether that’s at defensive end or offensive tackle.”

Klemm is a talented athlete, so he wasn’t surprised about receiving a college offer but thought he’d have to show more during the upcoming season or at prospect camps this summer before programs would be comfortable extending him an offer.

“Getting this news was exciting because I never thought I’d get one this early,” said Klemm. “I’ve been talking with a few schools and plan on going on some on-campus visits because some coaches want to see me in person to kind of confirm my size and stuff like that and also see me workout and move.”

Some of the teams that Klemm has been talking with are Colorado, Boston College, California, Arizona and Pitt.