Color me skeptical, but I don’t see any indications that this coaching staff or athletic department will spend big money in the portal. They will bargain shop there too. For the record, the A’s never won a WS playing moneyball. PSU will quickly get left in the rearview mirror if money ball is going to be their approach.
2027 Recruiting Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
Then Pat Kraft needs to be put on notice that his seat is warm. He needs to figure out the NIL fundraising or get out of the way so they can hire someone who can. He stood at the podium and pounded his chest like an obnoxious frat bro talking about championships and “elite level finances” for Campbell to work with and it was all a bunch of BS. He can go now as far as I’m concerned.
You honestly think this staff and athletic department will outbid others in the portal for a good, established WR?
Bottom line. WR recruiting is a joke. They dropped the ball on several levels. The word is out. PSU will not close out a deal in recruiting a high level player, especially in PA. PA is open season for other coaches and looks like a safety net for other new coaches at new places. Two weeks ago, you said this WR recruiting class may turn out to be “the best class ever at PSU” Two weeks later they are pretty much empty handed.
Yeah, and when you’re paying your two starting WR’s for 2026 (Koby and Sowell) well under a mill each, you’re not going to pay a new hs wr recruit over a mill unless that recruit is a true gamebreaker that opposing defenses have to always account for. K Taylor certain has the potential to to be very good in p2 football but he’s not some 4.3 speed kid with hands made out of glue.
It’s time for you to start donating to Happy Valley United. Only you can make a difference. As it looked then, absolutely it looked like that, but huge bags were dropped on our committs. It is what it is. Not the end of the world. It sucks now, but will be fine.
Bold prediction. I don't see it happening. PSU will probably have recruited beyond Taylor in the portal.
In order to be competitive in the BiG they have to outbid most of the competition. I understand that O$U is going to outbid us for top talent but we should at least have enough money to get their #2 or #3.
I give Penn State plenty of money. They aren’t getting any more from me. You must be on staff or work for the athletic department because you can’t ever be realistic with the situation. Last year’s class was a punt, this year’s class is underwhelming, and they are going to need to fill a bunch of holes after this season. Not looking overly positive for the Nits for the next few years after 2026 unless the NIL amounts increase dramatically or Campbell figures out how to recruit higher level talent. If they bargain shop in the portal next season, PSU will really be behind.
It's entirely possible. Campbell has a plan and that plan doesn't involve paying high 6 figure and 7 figure deals to unproven kids out of high school. I can't say that I disagree.
I agree with you, but it sure feels like they are bargain shopping. We are eating at Golden Corral and the big boys are eating at Capitol Grille.
Both schools have won a Natty more recently than PSU, if Fleming dose not make two clutch grabs vs USC- PSU is not the playoff in 2024.
Franklin constructed the team that had a great chance of winning a Natty, as well. He didn't have to go. He especially didn't have to go when he did, because it caused unnecessary chaos and damage to the program. Kraft should have been "hitting the backchannels" to arrange a potential replacement for him if the wheels, which had fallen off of last season, couldn't be put back on. And, then, if Franklin had continued to fail, and he had lost the great recruiting class he had coming in ... you neatly replace him. Instead, they panicked. Had no plan ... in fact lucked into Campbell, but are still left with a decimated recruiting class, and the task of trying to reestablish ourselves as a player, to mixed/uneven results so far.
And you can tell how tenuous and uncertain the situation is by how hard the defenders have to go in defending every single thing that happens in the light most positive. When you're in a good place, you can be critical of some moves, and supportive of others. When you're in a really good place, you can really nitpick. But when you're not sure where you're at, and how it's going to go, you have people who demand that everything that is said is positive, and anyone doubting anything is a mean troll.
It's like someone's health. If you're of normal health, you're like "oh, this is good, my blood pressure's good ... I need to work on that cholesterol, though." If you're of great health, you're picking apart that your resting heart rate should be 48, not 52. If you're waiting on potentially bad test results, or possibly on your way out, those around you don't want to hear "well, he may not make it. Well, that update wasn't good." It's all positive vibes or get out. If it wasn't clear that was the case here, it was cemented during the Wood/Borque NEPSAC/Catholic League fiasco. LMT and others were out of their minds, and there was no talking to them.
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Franklin was a failure at the end and a Tyler Warren away from being a failure in 2024 as well. He gave up on his 2025 team because he didn’t get a raise over the summer. The team was completely disorganized in the first half of the season. Donors finally gave money to the program and he pissed it all away. Thank God he’s gone.
It's as if they want to make it impossible to be a reasonable supporter/fan/human. You either demonize Franklin and exalt Campbell, or you're da debil.
It's like Paterno worship was instantly transferred into Campbell worship when the demon Franklin was exorcised. It's creepy. It's not fun.
That said, go Nittany Lions and go Campbell.
It's like Paterno worship was instantly transferred into Campbell worship when the demon Franklin was exorcised. It's creepy. It's not fun.
That said, go Nittany Lions and go Campbell.
I am appreciative of each hc. Paterno built the program into something unique and amazing, but should have retired a decade or so earlier. BOB kept it all together and probably would have been as successful as Franklin if he stayed. Franklin helped change the narrative of the program and got us back to Paterno’s level of performance between 1995 and 2010. He was absolute toxicity at the end and had to go. Campbell has not coached a single game here and his story is yet to be written. His approach thus far is in alignment for where we sit in the financial pecking order of college football.
Don't forget the Franklin worshippers that demonize Campbell
The article I posted only says 7pm. It's written by a Texas based writer, so it could mean 7pm central.
You're so negative. A mean troll you are. At this point I am neither positive nor negative. Sure, there are certain things with current recruiting that are disappointing. Regardless of the disappointments, the current state of recruiting is not a disaster. The poster who made the analogy of PSU dining at Golden Corral while others are dining at Capital Grille has some truth. What is unknown is how many of those Capital Grille diners are maxing out their credit cards and will shortly find themselves bankrupt while the diners at Golden Corral are able to put aside some money to be used opportunistically.
It will probably be a few years before a judgement can be made with respect to NIL funding and who was prudent and who was foolish, Will PSU, Pat Kraft and Matt Campbell prove to be geniuses or buffoons only time will tell. Most likely they will fall somewhere in between. Regardless, I am glad BGJ is gone because I had grown tired of his schtick. I Initially was excited and supportive, but over time, the delivery of 'his message' became like Chinese water torture.
McGee chose PSU. For now at least in this crazy world of college football.
How long until we get the "he s only a 3 star" crowd chiming in? He s got elite size and speed. Seems to be a nice pickup.
McGee will be a 4 star when he signs his LOI.
He's another example of what T Frank was talking about this week when he said that Campbell recruits kids without limitations, whether the label says 3*, 4* or 5*. McGee definitely fits that mold. If they stick, Telfair and McGee on the outside would be possibly the most gifted pair of CBs we've ever had as far as physical size and athleticism.
There aren’t any of those. Even Marshall didn’t come close to that, and he’s insufferable, generally.
I really like this class. This is a quality class across the board. The only thing left to do is add a WR or two and possibly another DE.
You are correct, time will tell.
We will know how good or bad recruiting classes are based on the following:
1) Penn State wins versus the top programs like Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan, Oregon, and USC.
2) Making the CFP
3) Be in the conversation as a serious National Title contender as much as possible
I am hopeful Coach Campbell and his staff can get it done.
I think BGJ made up his mind to leave not long after the BOT shutdown his raise. I lost all faith in him.
I agree 100% that the way Franklin's firing was handled very poorly. PSU was the first major team to fire it's coach and the last major team to name a replacement. A lot of time passed while out existing players and recruits jumped ship.
That said I don't think Franklin's recruiting was anything special except for the 6th ranked class of 2022. That class had 5* players like Allar, and Singleton in addition to 4* players like Sutton, Allen, and Carter. That class led the way for Franklin's recent success but that was before NIL. Back then Franklin could promote things like academics and family atmosphere. Today it's all about money. I think it's going to be very difficult for PSU who is ranked 22nd in NIL to compete with teams like Texas, OSU, ND, Georgia, USC, Michigan, Oregon, etc that all have more money to work with. If you believe this even Indiana has more money to work with than PSU
NIL Tracker 2026 | School Rankings | The Sideline
I have no idea how Franklin would have fared, and how he would have adjusted, if he would have at all ... but the incoming class he had lined up was top notch. Whether or not he could have hung on to them, or added to them? No clue. We'll never know. But the class was there, so early returns on recruiting in the NIL era appeared to be quite positive.
Remember that, during the prolonged coaching vacancy period, the pitchforks started coming out for Kraft. He could, or could not be the major problem here, in the NIL era, rather than whichever coach we bring in.
He was pretty visible up here ... recruiting mostly NEPSAC kids, like every other major football program that has discovered the talent up here. Which is why many of the better Catholic school kids jump ship to the NEPSACs. Because the kids are bigger, faster and better. But, you know ... maxpreps has rankings, so ... what do coaches and players know anyway? Belichick likes the NEPSAC kids, too ... and, certainly, he doesn't know anything about football in the New England area.
Did you contribute to the Athletic Department and/or NIL fundraising specifically?