Jamari Buddin picks Penn State, joining Nittany Lions' pipeline to Metro Detroit

The state of Michigan continued to lose out on the state’s top high school players on the 2021 class with Belleville four-star linebacker Jamari Buddin announcing Friday he will play college football at Penn State. 

Buddin picked the Nittany Lions over his other finalists – Michigan State, Minnesota at Purdue.

Buddin – ranked No. 7 in the state for the 2021 class by The Detroit News – earned a spot on The News' Dream Team last season after getting in on 61 tackles, including 29 tackles for lost yardage to help Belleville to a Division 1 state semifinal appearance.

Belleville coach Jermain Crowell said Buddin has spent a lot of time in the weight room this offseason, adding 20 pounds, and he will play at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds in 2020. Crowell also plans to deploy Buddin at tight end.

Penn State co-defensive coordinator and Detroit native Tim Banks has done a strong job of recruiting the metro area, coming away with several top players, including the King twins, Kalen (No. 9, cornerback) and Kobe (No. 14, linebacker) of Detroit Cass Tech, Detroit King safety Jaylen Reed (No. 10) and now Buddin.

Michigan, which recruited Kalen King and Buddin hard, has commitments from Sterling Heights Stevenson two-way lineman Giovanni El-Hadi (No. 6) and Detroit Cass Tech center Raheem Anderson (No. 8). UM is also considered by many recruiting analysts to be the frontrunner for West Bloomfield four-star running back Donovan Edwards (No. 3) and Oak Park two-way lineman Rayshaun Benny (No. 5), while also still in the running for Clarkston two-way lineman Rocco Spindler (No. 1).

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