One of New Jersey’s top high school football players is also its biggest.
Malachi Goodman, a 6-6, 310-pound Paramus Catholic star, inked a contract with the James Franklin Penn State team on Wednesday.
Goodman, a four-star prospect, is ranked as the top player in the Nittany Lions 2025 class by both Blue-White Illustrated and 247 Sports.
In early September, Goodman verbally committed to Penn State, but Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, and USC were also interested in him.
Goodman spoke with Darren Cooper of NorthJersey.com in a video that was uploaded to Yahoo.com in September. It is evident that Goodman’s decision to attend State College was significantly influenced by his relationships with James Franklin and Phil Trautwein, the offensive line coach at PSU.
Trau (Trautwein), the coach In an explanation of his choice to verbally commit to the Lions, Goodman stated, “I love Coach Trau, Coach Franklin, the coaching staff, in general.”
I really enjoy the O-line gang, you know.
Goodman is one of four offensive line prospects in Penn State’s 2025 class, along with Brady O. Hara of Pittsburgh, Owen Aliciene of Connecticut, and Michael Troutman of New Jersey, all of whom attended North Catholic.
In recent years, Paramus Catholic has produced some exceptional FBS players, including Drew Singleton, Jabrill Peppers, and Rashan Gary.
The most recent is Goodman.
On Saturday night in Indianapolis, Franklin’s 11-1 Penn State squad will play 12-0 Oregon in the Big Ten championship game.
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