Over the past few years Penn has recruited the state of Illinois extremely well. This is continuing into the 2027 class as they have landed a commitment from Hayden Schroeder, a 6’8” senior power forward of Wheaton Academy and Young & Reckless, on Sunday. 

Over the past several months, Schroeder became one of the most heavily recruited players in Illinois’ 2027 class. He ended up receiving double digit offers from division one programs coming from schools coast to coast. Schroeder selected Penn over his other offers from Air Force, Buffalo, Cal State Northridge, Elon, Illinois State, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Valparaiso, Western Illinois, and Western Michigan. 

“I loved everything about Penn from how involved the staff was from the first day they recruited me all the way till my commitment,” Schroeder first said about his decision. “They showed nothing but love towards me which made the decision so much easier. They also have an amazing staff and Coach McCaffery is one of the best coaches there is and I grew up watching him at Iowa and my dream was always to play for him and it’s surreal that I now have that opportunity. He always cared about my academics and there’s no better academics than Penn which made that hard to pass on.”

Schroeder further elaborated on how the academics of the Ivy League school came into his decision. “The academics really made a huge impact on my decision since I’m planning on going into business and Penn having Wharton, the number one business school, it was really hard to pass on such an opportunity. My family also values education very highly and with both of my siblings being at great schools with UVA and Clemson it was also important to me to stay on track in my family with great education.”

The pair of visits Schroeder took to Penn over the summer played a large role in securing his commitment. “I took an unofficial in June which was great to see the campus and meet the staff. Then I took my official visit last month in August and that really was the cherry on top getting to spend the entire day with the team and see the culture and I immediately knew Penn was the place for me.”

Even while being located in Philadelphia, Penn has been able to build a pipeline from the Chicagoland area. Current players on the Penn roster from the Chicagoland area include AJ Levine, Dalton Scantlebury, Payton Kamin, and Niklas Polonowski.