O’Hara OT Holmes commits to Penn State

Unlike a lot of football players from Pennsylvania, Cardinal O’Hara’s Desmond “Des” Holmes did not dream about playing at Penn State right from the start.

That would come a few years later as his high school career began to take shape and the college coaches started to take notice of the massive 6-6, 320-pound offensive tackle from Norristown.

“As I got older and started to watch them I knew that’s where I wanted to be one day,” Holmes said by phone.

That day arrived Sunday when Homes, who is ranked No. 16 in the Class of 2017 in Pennsylvania by 247sports.com, announced that he has verbally committed to play for the Nittany Lions.

“It’s all kind of surreal right now,” Holmes said.

Holmes narrowed his choice down to Penn State and Maryland and said he picked PSU for its family atmosphere.

“I just felt at home up there on my last two visits,” Holmes said. “I really took to heart the things Coach (James) Franklin said about being the best student-athlete you can be and preparing you for life. It wasn’t about just playing football … I’m just so happy to be part of the family.”

Holmes is the sixth verbal commitment Franklin has received in the last 18 days and the 14th overall from the Class of 2017. He is projected to play offense for the Nittany Lions.

“I’m glad I got this out of the way,” Holmes said. “I wanted to commit early. I didn’t want to wait any longer. I knew I would be right at home there.”