Penn State’s Kevin Winston Jr. named Maryland player of the year

The state of Maryland has always been a key recruiting area for Penn State over the years, and now it has the top player from the state as a member of its Class of 2022. Kevin Winston Jr. was named the DC Touchdown Club’s Maryland high school player of the year.

Winston had previously been named the state’s defensive player of the year by The Washington Post. He is scheduled to join Penn State over the summer after not being one of the early enrollees this spring.

Winston Jr. will be honored by the DC Touchdown Club at an awards banquet later this month, on April 21, just two days before the Penn State Blue-White spring game. He will be honored along with one of Penn State head coach James Franklin’s former bosses, former Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen. At one point, Franklin was expected to succeed Friedgen at Maryland, but he ended up taking a head coaching position at Vanderbilt instead, which eventually led to Franklin’s arrival in Happy Valley. Former Washignton Redskin Joe Jacoby, Pro Player of the Year Trevon Diggs, and College Player of the Year Jordan Addison (Pitt wide receiver) will also be honored at the banquet.

Winston is the third player joining Penn State in 2022 to be coming off such a high honor from their home state. Quarterback Drew Allar was named Mr. Football in the state of Ohio and running back Nick Singleton was named Mr. PA Football in Pennsylvania.

Three top players from three key recruiting states in one recruiting class? Yeah, that will work.