As Penn State preps for Oregon, its work to make the White Out an electric recruiting weekend is also underway

Penn State will be doing more than just playing Oregon in a rematch of the 2024 Big Ten title game two Saturdays from now when Dan Lanning’s Ducks invade Beaver Stadium for their first White Out game experience. The Lions will also be building for the future. As BWI’s Ryan Snyder reported last week, more than 70 high school football recruits have already confirmed their plans to be in State College for the game. The final visitor count will be in the hundreds.

Many of those in attendance will ultimately choose to join head coach James Franklin’s program by the time their recruitment is complete. We know that because all you need to do is compare previous White Out game visitor lists with the current Penn State roster to see the impact that one of college football’s marquee games can have. However, as the 12th-year leader of the Lions noted on Tuesday night amid the team’s first bye week of the season, all the future success does not come without its share of challenges to pull it off.

More: Penn State seeks to fill key recruiting staff role ahead of big White Out weekend

“There’s been a lot of special moments, right? So it is very, very important for our future,” Franklin said. “But it’s also challenging, right? We’re going to have 250 scholarship players on campus. And, we’re going to have 50 of the top players in the country. We also got to make sure they have a good experience. And it’s hard. It’s hard to make sure that everybody gets some love and everybody gets some time on game day.

“So we’ve put out word, asking people in the athletic department that could help us so we have more hands on deck, more manpower to help us, just so that everybody has a good experience. Sometimes people underestimate; they’ve been to other places for game day visits. I’m not going to mention the places, but they drive right up to the stadium. They’re like, it was wonderful. We just drove right up and went to the game. I said, ‘Well, you felt that when you got inside, right?’

“And then they get here and they’re frustrated with traffic. Well, you got to leave early enough. And you got to get here. Then, obviously, it’s a good thing for our community, but the challenges with hotels; everything is sold out. You got people calling now, and I’m like, ‘This game has been sold out forever. I got cousins that I haven’t talked to in 20 years, and high school friends I haven’t talked to in 25 years saying, ‘hey, you got a White Out ticket?’ Yeah, they’re just laying around.

“So there are some challenges that come with it, but it’s first-world problems.”

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