Hometown Hero: Harrisburg Star and Penn State Commit Messiah Mickens Opens Up on Stan Drayton, In-State RB Talent, and More
Despite being committed to Penn State since his sophomore season, Messiah Mickens’ recruitment has been in constant talk throughout the last two years.
But with the Harrisburg star and Pa. Gatorade Player of the Year’s commitment reaffirmed, Mickens is looking forward to re-focusing on his senior high school season and getting ready for Happy Valley.
“Honestly, very excited,” Mickens said. “Everything’s just coming together. Just I narrowed down the process, made it a little easier, knowing where I wanted to go and just building the process with Coach Franklin, just trusting in this, knowing what he wants to do with me, so just now I can just ball and focus on my senior year.”
Mickens, 247’s No. 213th ranked player in the Class of 2026, had some drama thrown into his pledge, when Penn State running back coach Ja’Juan Seider departed for Notre Dame.
But despite some pull from there and other programs, developing a relationship with new Nittany Lions’ running back coach Stan Drayton—who came up to Susquehanna Township to see Mickens at last week’s Spring Fling—has been big.
“We talk every day,” Mickens said. “As soon as he got the job— well I knew before he had it. So just starting there, just knowing how the coaching staff trusted me to let me know who where they were hiring was big.“
“[I tried to figure out] was it a good fit? All that kind of stuff. And we talk every day. That’s my guy. We’re gonna keep building. And he told me his plans and we’re just gonna go from there.”
Mickens appreciates Drayton, who was a running back coach at Texas, Ohio State and Florida among others before a three-year run as Temple’s head coach, is football-first.
“He’s the best of the best when it comes to the running back position,“ Mickens said. ”So just me grinding with him, you know, he knows it all. He’s not your average coach. I’ll tell you that we talk a lot more ball than personal. It’s just a little details with him.”He’ll be joining a Pa.-heavy running back room, with Aliquippa’s Tikey Hayes and Imhotep Charter’s Jabree Wallace-Coleman likely to be in Happy Valley with him in 2026.
“I know all them guys,” Mickens said. “The thing about it is we’re all positive with each other. We just want everybody to succeed.”
“You don’t get that anymore in college football. It’s a lot about money and stuff. But I think about Penn State, everybody’s good bond with each other, so it’s gonna be a good competition, and you just got to work wherever you go.”
But before he heads there, he has one more go around with the Harrisburg Cougars this fall, who have a loaded returning roster including fellow Penn State commit Kevin Brown and Rutgers commit Elias Coke.
After rushing for 1214 yards and 21 touchdowns last year to help Harrisburg to a state semifinal, the goals are even bigger in terms of leaving his mark before his college career begins.
“I feel like we’ve got a really good group of guys my senior year, and I’m just, I’m just blessed to be a part of it,” Mickens said. “Obviously, it’s not gonna be perfect, but we’ve got our guys, and I feel like we’re going to go out here and try our best to win a state championship.“
