2027 Recruiting Thread

[Marshall2323]

I think an established portal player is almost always going to be a better bargain than a 5 star and a much better option. Rumor mill is we played Olesh upwards of a million dollars last year for what?

and you think that makes more sense than spending a million on a kid that has shown he can play college football. Really!!! Its apparent many of these 5 stars are getting upwards of 3 million dollars while the majority of major college starters are not getting that much.

Get strong kids that you feel have potential for a reasonable price. Watch them develop, when they do pay them more, when they dont you dont lose as much, and the savings of not paying for some HS hot shot, use it to get transfers that will play the day they step on campus.

Is your response going to be, but how can you get a top 5 or top 10 recruiting class doing that?

"Getting strong kids that you feel have potential" will be recruited by 20 or 30 other schools and end up going to the program that gives them the most $$$.
While Matt Campbell may have a knack for identifying talent, he isn't the only coach in the world with the recipe for ice.
Signing players that you alone think have potential is a very silly business plan.
We need to accept as reality that this is an era of unrestricted free agency. I hope it changes and guardrails are put into place. But, waiting for that won't put a championship contender on the field in 27-29.

 

[Marshall2323]

Why do you seem to think you can get an established player in the portal for less than a HS recruit? I never said pay a HS kid more than an established portal player. I agree with you on this. I’ll take that established portal player 9 times out of 10. However, I think you would have a hard time finding an established portal player that would be less if in high demand.

Pay me now, or pay me later. There's no short cut home.

 

[Marshall2323]

That $1mill is straight from PSU donors and insiders on the premium boards. that is not rumor but common knowledge in PSU circles. The other ridiculous amounts are real too, like $500k to Liam Clifford. Franklin was fired for a variety of reasons starting with demanding a huge raise last summer but also because he wasted donor money on foolishness.

LOL. There was never a demand for a huge raise. I've been on the "premium" board. They are no more insiders than the experts here.
Franklin was fired for losing 3 games and the resulting unrest among the fan base.
The seeds of the firing were sown in the offseason as follows:
1. There was always an intense disagreement between Kraft and Franklin over the scope and timing of the stadium renovation, Franklin feared that given the present climate of NIL in the game, that excessive spending on the stadium would impact NIL funds.
2. Undeterred, Kraft went ahead with his plan. He also assured Franklin that monies would be available to sign premium recruits before the 7/1/25 deadline for the new NIL clearinghouse rules. When the time came to sign the likes of Luke Wafle (who badly wanted to come to PSU) Kraft had no such money available.
3. Franklin felt betrayed as he dutifully spoke at fundraising events at the behest of Kraft (in favor of the project).
4. Kraft reacted to this by claiming that Franklin mismanaged his roster $ (hence all the "inside" info planted by the Kraft toadies)
5. Franklin's agent requested an extension, in line with a coach that had reached the final four.
6. The Franklin-Kraft marriage had irreconcilable differences by early summer and both knew that the 2025 season would be Franklin's last ....win or lose.
7. All's well that ends well. Franklin is doing just fine. PSU has Kraft.
Funny, PSU still isn't signing top end talent? Why?
PS...speaking of overpaying for talent....did PSU overpay 4 or 5 returning players to keep them from further embarrassment (going to VT)? I wonder what the "insiders" know about that?

 

[Marshall2323]

I have no idea what Manske is making. That detail I’ve never seen. I only have seen the detail that the ISU guys came in at a discount and the PSU retentions were very costly. Campbell had enough sense to be upfront with everybody about the payroll situation so there’s no hard feelings in the locker room. Thankfully, the ISU players were just grateful and felt fortunate to come here. That’s the culture that Campbell builds.
Those salaries are never secret in the locker room . That’s also another factor that helped tear the previous PSU team apart. It started in 2024 when everybody found out that Carter was being paid a huge premium and allowed to get away with nonsense while much of the rest of the team was underpaid at that point. And the pay inequities continued in 2025 helping to completely tear the team apart. Terry thankfully helped get it back together.
Back to current, it is my opinion they’re preparing for the possibility of having to pay for a rental QB for 2027 as the young man’s health may still be a concern. Between Falzone, Evans, and Wood, it’s highly doubtful any of them would be ready to start at QB at such a young age.

If ISU players came here at a discount, where did the money go?