Remember when we couldnt run the ball or throw...
- Thread starter ChiTownLionPSU
- Start date
Can any of those guys fix our offensive line?
We had Justin Fields too, but he never signed. These guys are not locks.
The 2018 recruiting class is better than the one coming in. How'd we do in the CFP they took us to? This is silly.
I will love and support PSU regardless but none of those guys are PSU students yet! Cain and Ford were highly rated RB in 2019, they got 1 and 2 carries yesterday!
Is Cain injured? He has played (when he has) like he was still recovering from an injury.
Ford ... does he make the commitment to be great?
Ford ... does he make the commitment to be great?
One can hope. But knowing that the recruiting class of 2018 - the group who now make up the 4th year seniors on this team - were rated significantly higher than the current crew - and the recruiting class of 2019 - this year's 3rd year guys - were probably rated as high if not higher as the group that will sign later this year, it doesn't really support a high level of confidence. The five highest rated recruits from 2018 yielded one guy who provided any positive impact to the 2021 team (Mustipher, who unfortunately was lost after 1/2 of the season), and the 2019 class provided none (unless one wants to count Brandon Smith, who probably cost the team at least two games with his inexplicable determination to not tackle anyone - and the staff's inexplicable determination to continue to play him)
Between the long list of supposed future stars transferring out after doing nothing of note at Penn State (Penn State, even with their never-ending talk of "family", leads the Big Ten in number of players leaving since the portal became a thing), and the players who's sky-high recruiting standing translated into nothing more than workout warriors who couldn't play football, in recent years the track record in transforming highly recruited athletes into productive football players has not been good,
It is always better to start with athletic kids - vs athletically limited kids - obviously, but if recruiting was the be all and end all, or if recruiting could make up for coaching, and developing football players, Penn State would not be 8-10 in conference the last two years.
Penn State, obviously, needs to do much, much more than just recruit guys who garner a lot of rating services stars. Can this group, led by James Franklin, do that? The group from the mid-2010s certainly was much more successful in that endeavor. Time will tell.