2027 Recruiting Thread

[PSUForever]

Unless PSU signs several high 4 stars and perhaps a 5 star, they will not be in the final top 10. Ratings are skewed by numbers and not quality. Since PSU will likely have one of the largest classes, their rating will be artificially inflated. Recruiting average players (88) isn't going to produce talent to beat (91). It's been the same for years. The "portal era" means nothing if you aren't securing the top talent from there, Bottom line, if you don't have the money to sign the blue chips....where will you get the cash to win the free agent frenzy, which is the portal? I don't know what I'm talking about, but I can decipher numbers. There are about 17 schools that have a higher rating per commit than PSU currently boasts.
My assertion is that if they continue to recruit at the current level.....which is similar to what Franklin achieved, the results will be similar. "Coaching them up" is for cheerleaders, because other schools have coaches too.
I fail to see how it's being butt hurt to insist that game changers are needed at several positions and they are currently not committed. Perhaps that will happen? Getting a commit from QB #7 and 80 nationally will be evidence of a foundation.

In your world Texas A&M would have won a couple nattys over the last 10 years because they always have a ton of talent and a highly ranked recruiting class.

Yes, you need talent. Your premise though is flawed because you are only looking at HS recruiting rankings and then projecting that to play out the exact same way on the field. In your world a team with an average player ranking of 89 can never beat a team with an average player ranking of 92 or 93. What positions do the most talented players on the 89 average player team play? What are you doing in the portal? Not just getting the highest rated guy available but strategically filling a need with a guy who fits your culture. What about intangibles like veteran leadership or mental and physical toughness? Player development? Many factors to consider.

 

[rigi19041]

In your world Texas A&M would have won a couple nattys over the last 10 years because they always have a ton of talent and a highly ranked recruiting class.

Yes, you need talent. Your premise though is flawed because you are only looking at HS recruiting rankings and then projecting that to play out the exact same way on the field. In your world a team with an average player ranking of 89 can never beat a team with an average player ranking of 92 or 93. What positions do the most talented players on the 89 average player team play? What are you doing in the portal? Not just getting the highest rated guy available but strategically filling a need with a guy who fits your culture. What about intangibles like veteran leadership or mental and physical toughness? Player development? Many factors to consider.

Do you have a statue picked out?


How did campbell lose to Cincinnati, wvu(3x), northern Iowa and Memphis?

 

[Marshall2323]

Franklin had some classes that averaged out at 88, but he had a lot of classes that were over 90 and even a couple over 91. I agree that the overall average player rating is a better metric to evaluate a class by.

But, for some additional perspective, Michigan won (cheating aside) a national championship with classes that averaged mostly at 90 and one 89. In the same time span, PSU recruited neck-and-neck in terms of average talent, and yet, couldn't achieve the same results. I think the big difference was how Michigan was able to turn recruits at certain key positions into really good players while PSU did not quite get there (especially along the trenches). Michigan was also more successful at finding an identity on offense and then sticking to it and developing it.

I can tell you as someone who played and coached a bit.....knowing just run or pass, left or right is an incredible advantage as well as knowing what defensive look you will get before the next snap. let alone more precise information. It's unfortunate that some great athletes, who may have won anyway, were betrayed by their coaching staff. I'm sorry, but to me, that NC will be forever tainted. I can't dismiss the evidence of what Michigan was under Harbaugh prior to Stalions and what they became after. Even though they won critical games after he was exposed, you need to wonder what those 2-3 years would have looked like without the sign stealing. Michigan was 49-22 in six years under Harbaugh prior to the funny business.
All of that aside. Winning is hard. Fans think their school is entitled to win virtually every game. Yet after every week in the season winning and losing teams are split at 50-50.

 

[Marshall2323]

Agreed. Weird how Franklin averaging the #15 class was apparently elite recruiting while Campbell getting us into the top 15 his first class, after starting from nothing when he got here, is a failure. James Gang saying James Gang things.

I was not the one who promised "excellence at the highest level" and promised increased funding for coaches salaries and NIL. Let's not forget the "NC that our fans deserve."
If what Franklin did is the "goal" then this staff is killing it.
I've never seen such excitement over a 3 star QB rated #30 in the nation ....beating out Boston College here.
Currently PSU's average commit is rated 88.56, while the stumble bum, who fell to a vastly inferior program at VT is recruiting an average commit of 88.27 (per 24/7).

Now one could argue that PSU must fill about 30 spots with this incoming class (thanks to the incompetence of Pat Kraft) and therefore, the money needs to be spread out to cover the increased traffic, That's reasonable to assume. Keep in mind,
that this cycle is likely to continue for at least another year. As I've said before, I'm not concerned about 2026 due to the schedule. However, recruiting predominantly 3 stars isn't worthy of long term optimism.

 

[Marshall2323]

Marshal and Rigi are hoping and praying MC fails.. they hate PSU and love BGJ. They both will disappear when things are going well, with an occasional negative post. But they will be posting full force when the first negative happens.

I hate PSU so much that I've hung around since I attended my first PSU game in 1966. LOL
Here's the irony. When all the fair-weather fanboys inevitably turn on Campbell (and they will, because no coach can measure up to their standards) I'll be the one defending him and being criticized for that.

 

[Marshall2323]

Also, any rational person knows that it's going to take Campbell at least a few seasons to transform the program the way he wants it, and most likely the 2026 PSU team at best will be a borderline playoff team if almost everything goes right; he wasn't going to come in and attract a 1991 caliber recruiting class overnight. However, I'm very pleased with what he's done so far.

I just want to see a tough team both physically and mentally that plays great fundamental football and is tough to beat, and just hope that some things fall their way. If PSU shows this in 2026, then Campbell's succeeding classes should be even better as well as the portal players because he's going to have a lot to sell, especially with the renovated stadium.

The stadium matters little in today's "college" football. Services go to the highest bidder.

 

[NOYDB]

I hate PSU so much that I've hung around since I attended my first PSU game in 1966. LOL
Here's the irony. When all the fair-weather fanboys inevitably turn on Campbell (and they will, because no coach can measure up to their standards) I'll be the one defending him and being criticized for that.

You’re an old grumpy douche that finds the negative in any positive. Narcissistic bs

 

[searay26]

Hardly the year to fairly compare PSU versus VT recruiting. Let's look again in a couple of years and see who is doing better. Give Campbell a chance to catch up with longer term relationships with targeted recruits.

 

[LMTLION]

Hardly the year to fairly compare PSU versus VT recruiting. Let's look again in a couple of years and see who is doing better. Give Campbell a chance to catch up with longer term relationships with targeted recruits.

You’re right, but that’s just not how we operate here. We got Joe bots and Franklin bots. Lately the Franklin bots are a lot more annoying.

 

[CyphaPSU]

Hardly the year to fairly compare PSU versus VT recruiting. Let's look again in a couple of years and see who is doing better. Give Campbell a chance to catch up with longer term relationships with targeted recruits.

This is level-headed thinking. However, if I may just extend this thought out a little farther, I think an even more relevant comparison would be against teams we actually compete against on the field. Over the last decade, it's a school like Michigan that we have recruited on level terms with when it comes to class rankings. I think it's reasonable to say that we need to see in the next few cycles where Campbell's classes measure up to that level of B1G competition. NIL is unfortunately a huge factor, too, but I'm interested in seeing how his staff's different approach to that (and the expectation of more cash money for NIL theoretically being at play according to Kraft's statement a few months back) might bear fruit. I've said before, for this cycle, I'd be content if we just get to double digits in terms of blue-chip recruits by the time signing day comes.

Since Campbell expressly stated that their intention is to primarily build the program through high school recruiting and not the portal, HS recruiting is still going to obviously be a major point of discussion for the direction of this program. In addition to strong player development, eventually you do need to sprinkle in some high 4-star and 5-star athletes who can be the game-changing players that elite teams have to really account for (we can do this because we have done this). We cannot forget that the programs that recruit at an elite level tend to also have really strong coaching staffs who have the ability to develop as well. Difference-making athletes are not really optional if you want to win at the highest level—especially in the trenches.