Mark Pszonak contributed to this report.
The transfer portal never stops grinding. After taking several official visits, Cornell grad-transfer offensive lineman Hunter Nourzad made his decision public on Monday with a commitment to Penn State.
Recruiting: Nourzad committed to Cornell over an offer from West Point.
At Cornell: Nourzad started the final 20 games of his Cornell career, having played both right tackle and left tackle. He was a Second-Team All-Ivy League selection as a sophomore in 2019, did not play in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and was First-Team All-Ivy League this fall. He will have two years of eligibility remaining after he graduates from Cornell in May with a degree in mechanical engineering.
Farrell’s Take: The Georgia native can play on the left or ride side or at guard and he's nasty on film so it was no surprise to see so many schools interested. He narrowed down his list to five with three Big Ten schools and chose Penn State over Iowa so this is a huge win for James Franklin. He's a plug and play guy who will impact immediately somewhere along the line.
Impact Meter: 8.3 out of 10
IMPACT METER
The Transfer Portal continues to change the way college football programs recruit and manage their rosters so we here at Rivals.com continue to evolve our coverage. Each time a player of note enters the portal, we will examine their potential impact on the college football landscape and assign an impact rating, both when they enter the portal and when they choose a destination. The scale is from 1-10 and the description below explains the scoring scale.
1.1-4.0 — Not a big impact expected, likely a non-starter and down the bench depth player.
4.1- 6.0 — A solid impact can be expected in the right scenario and has the potential to battle for a starting job.
6.1-9.0. — A high impact player who won’t change a program but will certainly be a very good contributor and starter.
9.1- 9.9 — A very high impact player who should start the moment he steps on the field and will change the outlook of a program immediately.
10 — A franchise transfer who has a chance to be an All American and one of the elite players in college football.
