2027 Recruiting Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
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All the not so subtle hints seem to indicate that Telfair will be committing very soon, if not today. Terry Smith continues to be a masterful recruiter. If and when Telfair commits, that should be the last CB in this class unless someone decommits down the line.
Amazing how much mid level 3 stars are exciting the loyal fanboys, LSU and OSU are spending 40 million on rosters and some insist excellence at the highest level is just a matter of "coaching them up."
At this rate of recruiting talent, the very best year will be 2026 because the schedule will be real after that.
We deserve better.
Go Cylions, beat Buffalo
At this rate of recruiting talent, the very best year will be 2026 because the schedule will be real after that.
We deserve better.
Go Cylions, beat Buffalo
You get middle of the road recruits,you will most likely have middle of the road results. Sad but not going to get 107,000 for long. Welcome to 7-5 and 8-4 seasons.
I feel absolutely no buzz around this program. I think the record will be good due to schedule and many empty seats and red ink after that.
Lots of good highly rated talent visiting between now and the weekend. Hope to see more commitments soon.
I dont know how much attention coaches pay to stars. We do know that Ceasar and Gleason were very early offers from when Franklin was here and that Smith wanted both of them. Being local, he had very good looks at them in camps a while ago. TFrank has rave reveiws for both and keeps saying they are both underrated.
We've been sending DBs to the NFL with regularity. It these guys along with Telfair are the ones the Smith really wanted. I wouldn't worry about the stars at CB. My guess is you'd be happy with Telfair, becuase all you are looking at is the stars. We got a lot of 4 stars that are well on their way at other positions. I'd take local three stars that were offered a year ago ahead of about all of them.
BTW, if we land Telfair, and all 4 of these guy sign. How much you willing to wager that PSU doesn't end up with at least 3 four star CBs in the next class? The Rivals ranking already has Robinson as a 4 star and in the industry rankings he is rated lower than both Ceasar and Gleason. Go Figure.
You can tell there’s Franklin lover boys on here still. Why don’t you wait until end of the year with his recruiting class before you start judging?
No they have to prove their point. You know, that JF was the second coming of JoePa and even though he yells at students, tries to go above his boss to the president to get a new contract and completely micromanages his team so that his QB is afraid to play loose. He had a three week stretch that was as bad as the early 2000's team but with a team that will have at least 6 players drafted this spring and 5 times as much overall talent with that team.
They say you wont win without spending the money like OSU and the SEC but yet he made terrible payment decisions and expect him to not get fired when all the other schools that had comparable results and expectations fired their guys too.
He made sure his favorites got paid and played regardless of who the best player was...
Franklin lost to a winless team without a coaching staff. With a roster that was ranked #2 to start the season.
For everyone spouting off about "3 stars" I don't think you are taking into account the change the program underwent and the change in the entire recruiting landscape. You understand we have a GM now? Whats the point of filling your roster with expensive 5 star high school seniors that may not pan out, or if they do, they transfer to the highest bidder immediately? Sure, Cig at indiana is starting to attract high level recruits because he has proven he can develop and coach, but spending hours and millions on high school recruits isn't the plan anymore. Get a bunch of good, loyal, 3 star kids...develop them into 4 star talents(they feel loyalty to the program that develops them to some degree) and augment with high performing/productive/and yes, expensive talent in the transfer portal. That's the model, that's the model that its going to have to be at Penn State and I think it's really sound. In a world where you could have the best of everything, would you rather be Georgia? Spend like a drunken sailor on high school talent, portal players, school and previous success does a lot of the lifting too? Of course...but we just went through a coaching change and instead of getting Sizzle recruiters, we got coaches that are developers. I think we'll bring in less "star" high school talent, but our players will be better prepared/developed and I'd take that trade off. I do think they will SPEND on productive transfer players that fit their scheme/culture. Ask yourself, what do you think Georgia spent on Kemon Spell? Honestly? Would you want this iteration of Penn State to spend that right now? On a kid that will keep getting calls all 4 years of college to leave the program for more money? How much better is he at running between the tackles than other guys on our roster? 5%, 10%?
Plus lots of recruits that the last guy got started as three star and got bumps. I’m sure similar things will happen with some of these guys
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That effort (and I use that term loosely) vs UCLA which I witnessed in person was a complete and utter embarrassment to the university. Franklin was clueless, Knowles was clueless, Kotelnicki was clueless, the players especially on defense slept walk through a lot of the game mailing it in and made UCLA look like a top 10 team. Kraft should have fired Franklin in the lockeroom after that game.
That was the lowest I have felt after a PSU game in a while. That was when I swung to taking a hard look at Franklin and where this program was headed.
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They're all tapped out paying for the stadium renovation.
There will be no second coming of JoePa. He was the greatest educator coach of all time. I'll take him every day of the week and twice on Saturdays. Franklin got fired he's gone. He paid the price for the collapse. Yet, he's just fine....still employed and being paid very well, so I hear.
The topic is the PSU program. 1. Kraft foolishly squandered an entire recruiting class. (something not seen with other high profile programs making coaching changes. 2. The experts here insisted there was little talent in the class anyway, I believe it was firmly in the top 20. This class was replaced with a top 100 class. 3. Kraft insisted that PSU should be more aggressive obtaining difference makers....playmakers in the portal. How'd that work out? 4. Because of the exodus, PSU is doomed to be portal dependent, not for a few, but for dozens of players annually for the foreseeable future. A class of near walk ons, followed by a class dominated by mid level 3 stars doesn't logically seem like the formula to improve the program.
Pointing to how the previous coach came up short, doesn't advance the prospects for the new regime. Franklin bashing and claiming a rebuild, are simply attempts to deflect from the issues at hand. This program needs a 10 win season from this weak schedule and some quality high 4 and an occasional 5 stars to blend with "underrated" and undervalued 3 star prospects. We were told that NIL funds were at an all time peak? I'm not seeing the splash. Will PSU be a player for top rated talent in recruiting and the portal? If not, the future will be bleak.
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treated like just another piece of paper to hang on his wall!
Do yourself a favor and go outside and touch some grass. I get your passion, but it comes out as just bitching to *****, at this point. Let it play out. No amount of bitching and the often “I told you so” will solve anything
The future can’t be as bleak as losing to a team without a coaching staff.
Don't bet the ranch on it.
Here's the popular narrative.
James Franklin is the worst game day coach ever.
James Franklin can't develop talent,
James Franklin hires lousy coordinators
James Franklin plays favorites
James Franklin doesn't understand roster construction
James Franklin gave money to cripples
James Franklin is stupid and stubborn, and even argued with fans
Experts here feel free to pile on the list....
Matt Campbell wins games with laser focus decisions on game day
Matt Campbell would never argue with a fan
Matt Campbell sees future NFL talent in recruits that few if anyone can see
Matt Campbell develops talent at an incredible pace
In short Matt Campbell makes wine out of water
Matt Campbell is an expert at roster management
Matt Campbell will only compensate players that contribute and produce
seldom will be heard a discouraging word, and skies in State College will not be cloudy on game day.....
Only a moron would claim Michigan didn't have a coaching staff. Even a "suspended" Harbaugh coached all week and was in State College. By the way.....who beat that team without a coach? Answer? NO ONE. LOL
So given how generationaly bad James Franklin was and how brilliant the duo of Pat Kraft and Matt Campbell will be ...
It's hard to see Campbell not winning 10 or 11 games every single year. Because Franklin did 10 or better 7 times.
I'm fine. Never been better. It's called an opinion. A point of view. I see a group here not only minimizing the Franklin Era but exaggerating his coaching failures in an effort to convince themselves that somehow all evil has been eradicated with the arrival of MC as fixer. To do better than Franklin over time, PSU needs to get game changing players. Especially at the skill positions. That costs money. Kraft said it's there. Why wasn't spent in the portal? Where are the 5 star recruits?
It's fan's like YOU who post the same bull about James Franklin. By the way Coach James Franklin is still talked about dozens of times daily on this site because fans like you cant get his name out of your mouth. You should go be a hypocrite MORE. This is what YOU normally say. Marshall is one of the few rational fans on this board. Everybody is living in JoePa's shadow of expected excellence whether they know it or not. We would have eventually won with CJF and maintain excellence. Im thrilled we'll maintain success with honor, but we will not get the wins you want without the highest level recruits/portals. The grass is always greener and PSU fans like you are torn between the grass of Joe Paterno and the grass of teams like OSU/Indiana. Too greedy and naive to be "ok" being Penn effing State. You let yourselves get sucked into the "Be like OSU and win at all costs." You're the one who needs to STFU and touch grass.
We Are...like everyone else. It's a sign of immaturity that fanboys here can't give Franklin his due. They are reliving their rejections from the cheerleaders in high school. LOL
It's very simple. Franklin came to PSU at a time it was in the throughs of the 2nd worse sanctions in the history of NCAA football. Very serious recruiting sanctions. At the end of his first year, those sanctions were largely lifted. However, at a time without the portal 3 years of handcuffed recruiting would have an impact. His tenure, in addition saw a Big 10 title and title appearance, 2 playoff wins, a 13 win season along with4 11 win seasons and Rose, Cotton and Fiesta Bowl victories.
Despite all the positive achievements, Coach Franklin failed to win "big" games, most notably, against Ohio State and Oregon.
The 2025 season began with a veteran roster and followed a 2024 run to the National Championship semi-finals. The first 6 games were terribly disappointing, especially loses to UCLA and Northwestern.....after an apparently heartbreaking over time loss to Oregon. Virtually everyone agreed that a change in leadership was needed.
After firing Franklin, AD Kraft mismanaged the coaching search, and this resulted in losing an entire recruiting class.
Fortunately, after months of failure, Matt Campbell a highly regarded, veteran coach expressed interest. Even Pat Kraft couldn't screw this up.
Campbell took the reins with the promise of more staff money pool and a top 10 NIL budget . Given Coach Campbells prior coaching achievements, along with more resources, results are expected to improve dramatically.
Seems like YOU are the one that needs to STFU.. Out of touch, butt hurt idiot. I’m glad JF is gone, but that doesn’t mean that I or anyone else should not give him praise for what he completed at PSU.
You and several other posters will be like cockroaches for years to come to show up out of nowhere and negatively post about the program. PSU could win the Big Ten this year and some of you haters wouldn’t say a damn word, just sit and wait for something negative. FO
Obviously, he is trying to reference UCLA.
That said, a (semi) interesting tidbit, IMO:
Since the west coast teams joined the Big Ten - the "home field advantage" for west coast teams hosting other Big Ten programs, is HUGE. (And, as one would expect, a similar - but not so large - home field advantage for Big Ten schools entertaining the west coast teams)
For instance, last year:
The west coast teams, when hosting non-west coast teams:
11 Wins, 3 Losses
The wins included 4 over ranked teams (Washington over Illinois, USC over Iowa and Michigan, and of course UCLA over Penn State)
The three losses: Competitive game vs OSU (Washington), competitive game vs IU (Oregon), and UCLA's one-score loss to Nebraska.
No way PSU should have lost to UCLA - and I think a LOT of that responsibility falls on the way VTHFC CJF "managed" the squad - but it is proving to be very difficult for the travel teams on the East-West jaunts in the Big Ten.
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I’ll bet the ranch on Matt Campbell ending his tenure at Penn State without losing to a winless team without a coaching staff.
You thought I was talking about Michigan? Take a deep breath and remember all the way back to UCLA last season. You can call it a moronic take if you’d like, and I would expect nothing different from you because it is a criticism of a flawless coach, but to the rest of the world it was an embarrassment.
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