James Franklin raves about early impact of 2022 recruiting class

Penn State signed one of the nation’s best 2022 recruiting classes. And many of those signees contributed right away for the Nittany Lions last fall.

That has coach James Franklin extremely optimistic about where his program is headed in the short term.

“There was a ton of those guys that ended up playing and not just playing, but playing in prominent roles,” Franklin said of Penn State’s 2022 recruiting class. “We’ve had guys play in years past but maybe they were a backup. But there just seemed to be a large number in this class that was able to play and not just play but take on a primary role role and be impactful.

“Obviously whenever that happens you go into the next season feeling confident because you have a ton of guys coming back that have been able to make plays and make plays on a significant stage.”

Freshman tailback Nicholas Singleton led the charge, pretty quickly cementing himself as the lead tailback despite some other veteran presences in the room.

He finished the year with 156 carries for 1,061 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Kaytron Allen also contributed a ton in the backfield, rushing for 867 yards and 10 touchdowns on 167 carries.

“And if they were pretty successful as true freshmen then you would hope that experience would lead to them having even more success in Year 2,” Franklin pointed out.

Penn State 2022 recruiting class has great start

Any time you have a good number of early contributors in a class you have a chance to have a special season not long after. And Penn State felt good about its seventh-ranked 2022 recruiting class even before last year’s on-field results started pouring in.

“We felt like it was a good class,” Franklin said. “It ended up being as good of a class as we thought or maybe even a little bit better. A lot of those guys just came in with a very mature approach and were willing to do what it took to play and play well. Everybody says they want to play as freshmen, but very few people are willing to do the things necessary to get it done, and that is mentally and physically.”

Penn State will be hoping for more of the same in the 2023 class, though jobs may be a little tougher to come by thanks to the success the 2022 group has already had.

Franklin seems some reasons for optimism about the 2023 group.

“We have 12 guys that came in in this class that came in mid-semester, so that helps, to see if those guys will have a chance,” he said. “But I would also say to you, you even look at last year, there’s a pretty good number of those guys that did not come in early and still were able to make a significant impact. Dani (Dennis-Sutton’s) obviously a really good example of that.

“But there was a number of those that did not come in early and were still able to impact our program and our roster. So the head start helps, but I think we’ll also get some guys out of the second wave, too.”