2027 Recruiting Thread

[PSUForever]

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.

You are entitled to your bleak outlook. Not sure though how bleak future and the fact that we have a pretty good shot (not a lock but not some Hail Mary prayer either) of winning 10 games in '26 and going to the playoff can describe the same program? Do we need to pick up some 4 star guys? Yes. Will the program be downtrodden for the foreseeable future? No.

The only reason I would bring up Big Game James when discussing the future outlook of the program with Campbell at the helm is the following:

-Will Campbell be as completely inept and pathetic in winning big games as defined by beating teams with equal or better talent as us? No. This is a positive for the future.

-Related to the point above, I believe our teams will be both physically and mentally tougher under Campbell. Do not underrate the mental toughness aspect. Joe's teams had it for the most part and Franklin's teams most certainly did not. Just look at how many close games we lost where we could not execute at winning time. This should improve and again bode well for the future of the program.

- Will key position groups like WR and QB see no real development? No. Campbell will be able to develop these position groups at a much higher level than BGJ. I would throw in our DT position which could never really generate a pass rush under BGJ and Barnes. LB was so so at LBU no less! Campbell will get more out of all these positions.

The future is not bleak.

 

[PSUForever]

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.

Your first sentence in the last paragraph says it all.

 

[PSUForever]

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.

Franklin was a decent coach. I would say solid but he hit a ceiling and could not take the program to an elite status. He never got us into the 4 team playoff and we should have been there a couple years. He was horrible in big games. He did represent the program well but still seemed too much of a slick sales guy for my liking. Players liked him. Glad he is gone as he should have been canned after the '21 season. No one is going to confuse him with any of the elite coaches today or with the all time great coaches of the past.

 

[Connorpozlee]

Franklin was a decent coach. I would say solid but he hit a ceiling and could not take the program to an elite status. He never got us into the 4 team playoff and we should have been there a couple years. He was horrible in big games. He did represent the program well but still seemed too much of a slick sales guy for my liking. Players liked him. Glad he is gone as he should have been canned after the '21 season. No one is going to confuse him with any of the elite coaches today or with the all time great coaches of the past.

He had a good but not great resume going into last season. To crap the bed in such a horrific way as he did to start the season was too much for a coach with just a good resume.

 

[rigi19041]

You are entitled to your bleak outlook. Not sure though how bleak future and the fact that we have a pretty good shot (not a lock but not some Hail Mary prayer either) of winning 10 games in '26 and going to the playoff can describe the same program? Do we need to pick up some 4 star guys? Yes. Will the program be downtrodden for the foreseeable future? No.

The only reason I would bring up Big Game James when discussing the future outlook of the program with Campbell at the helm is the following:

-Will Campbell be as completely inept and pathetic in winning big games as defined by beating teams with equal or better talent as us? No. This is a positive for the future.

-Related to the point above, I believe our teams will be both physically and mentally tougher under Campbell. Do not underrate the mental toughness aspect. Joe's teams had it for the most part and Franklin's teams most certainly did not. Just look at how many close games we lost where we could not execute at winning time. This should improve and again bode well for the future of the program.

- Will key position groups like WR and QB see no real development? No. Campbell will be able to develop these position groups at a much higher level than BGJ. I would throw in our DT position which could never really generate a pass rush under BGJ and Barnes. LB was so so at LBU no less! Campbell will get more out of all these positions.

The future is not bleak.

Will Campbell produce more NFL players?

 

[rigi19041]

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.

Who was coaching Iowa State when they lost to Ohio Bobcats, WVU(3x), Northern Iowa and Memphis? Where was that laser focus?

 

[RyanSnyder]

Need to make him a profile when I get home.

 

[LMTLION]

Hopefully, this means something. It would be a pretty amazing start to Campbell’s recruiting efforts at PSU.

 

[Alphabets]

Hopefully, this means something. It would be a pretty amazing start to Campbell’s recruiting efforts at PSU.

 

[LionsAndBears]

Menci or Bourque? Not a bad problem to have if that's the case. Reminds me of the 2000 class where we were taking the 1st 2 QBs to commit out of Wasserman, Mills and Smoker. Smoker wanted to go to PSU but he waited too long to pull the trigger.