Upcoming Recruiting Battle Between Pitt and Penn State?

We could be headed for a WPIAL recruiting battle between Pitt and Penn State.

The top ranked kicker in the Class of 2026 is 5-star Harran Zureikat from Fox Chapel High School.

A month ago, Jacob Bronowski extended him an offer, which resulted in Zureikat scheduling an official visit to Pitt (June 19-21).

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Well, Zureikat just added an interesting chapter to his recruiting story.

This weekend, Zureikat took part in a prospects camp at Penn State and afterwards, he received word that he’d earned a scholarship to James Franklin’s program.

#AGTG After a great workout and conversation with @coachjfranklin and @CoachLustig, I am incredibly honored and grateful to receive a full scholarship offer to play at Penn State University!! #WeAre@HKA_Tanalski @KohlsKicking @KohlsHighlights @PennStateFball pic.twitter.com/jVioKb6W9h

— Harran Zureikat (@ZureikatHarran) June 1, 2025

Zureikat ranks as the top kicker and second-best punter in the Class of 2026, per Kohls Kicking rankings.

Pittsburgh Sports Now had a chance to talk with Zureikat tonight following this Penn State offer and got an update on his recruitment.

“It’s been about a year since I was first in contact with Penn State,” Zureikat tells PSN. “I went through a period where I thought Penn State was only recruiting a punter. So to some extent, I saw no hope with them for a month or two. But then their recruitment of me started back up three months ago and Coach Lustig has been great. This recruitment has had a lot of ups and downs because honestly, I performed pretty poorly the first time I saw them, but they still stuck with me.

“About a month or two ago, Penn State reached back out to me and told me they were very interested in me and that they were looking for a combo-kicker.

After not performing well the first time he kicked in front of the Penn State staff, Zureikat nailed it today and after the workout, Franklin gave him the good news.

“It definitely means a lot because it’s an in-state offer and I’m an in-state kid,” said Zureikat. “This offer means the world, especially with how good of a program Penn State has. I’m very honored to have received this offer.”

While holding other offers, the ones from Pitt and Penn State are obviously two really big ones and Zureikat knows that.

“To be honest with you, I haven’t had the chance to start the process of thinking about eliminating schools yet. I plan on finishing taking all of my unofficial and official visits over the next few weeks and then take some time to figure out where I want to be.

“As far as the two in-state schools, they are both really great options,” said Zureikat. “It’s definitely going to be hard to choose but both of them have been really great to me.”

Zureikat just completed an official visit to Boston College and tells PSN that he has an official visit scheduled to Syracuse (June 13-15) and will be scheduling one to Penn State.

Along with these official visits, Zureikat tells PSN that he has upcoming unofficial visits scheduled to Ohio State (June 5), Georgia (June 10) and “possibly” Michigan on June 16th.

Had a great time competing at @HKA_Tanalski spring camp. Won both field goal and punt competitions with a 61 yard field goal and a 60 yard 4.9 punt. pic.twitter.com/CM4LDJbVuZ

— Harran Zureikat (@ZureikatHarran) April 27, 2025