2027 Recruiting Thread

[PSUALREADYKNOW]

Here are 2 glaring NIL blunders committed by Franklin:

1) Using valuable NIL money on Julian Fleming to play WR. This was one of the worst NIL moves of the Franklin era.
Fleming was a well known bust at Ohio State and Franklin signed him anyway. (2024 example)

2) Using valuable NIL money on 5 star TE Andrew Olesh. Olesh didn’t even dress for a single game and was not able to get beyond 4th string at the tight end position at Penn State. (2025 example)

Olesh’s TE peers by comparison, all played during their freshman year in 2025:

Elyiss Williams (Georgia) - played in 13 games as a 5 star TE
Linkon Cure (Kansas State) - played in 9 games as a 5 star TE
DaSaahn Brame (Tennessee) - played in 9 games as a 4 star TE
Nick Townsend (Texas) - played in 13 games as a 4 star TE

Given Penn State’s known TE depth, it made no financial sense to allocate valuable NIL funds for the TE position in 2025.

This blunder prevented Penn State from signing CB Brandon Finney who signed with Oregon and was named 2nd team All-B1G and defensive MVP in the 2026 Orange Bowl.

That’s hindsight. One player won’t ha

The best way to eliminate the trolls is to put them all on ignore, existing and new. Such people can really sap your energy and it’s really harmful to engage them.

Im

Boy, I wish we still had James Franklin as a coach! Kidding!

would the current recruiting class and season QB depth be better right now or worse if we still had Franklin? Would the teams talent composite moving into the season be lower or higher if we still had Franklin? Would we have whiffed on the amazing in state talent if we still ha Franklin? You can dislike Franklin and just have an insanely irrational view at the same time. Stew in your misery-I would be feeling much better about this season if Franklin were still here. We’re now like 6th team in the Big 10. Northwestern and Minnesota are just about as good as we are. We slip every day and you stick your head in the sand about how good it is that we fired James Franklin. Really smart.

 

[Nothing Special]

ND just had a 4 star 2028 qb committed for 6 days. Hopefully we can hold onto this one longer!

Could be wrong, but I think a 5-star did commit during that 6-day period.

 

[PSUALREADYKNOW]

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.

To say thank god when James Franklin caliber coaches don’t just grow on trees is naive and shows you are not spoiled because we haven’t been champions since 86…but either living in the past or stupid. Or both?

 

[PSUALREADYKNOW]

Don't forget the Franklin worshippers that demonize Campbell

Nobody has demonized Campbell though! Everybody has said they respect him but have concerns about the program overall. You create your own anger through manufacturing information!

 

[PSUALREADYKNOW]

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.

Ever had? Are you on crack rock?

 

[LMTLION]

Could be wrong, but I think a 5-star did commit during that 6-day period.

I do not believe so. Oklahoma dropped a bigger bag on him.

https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/article/notre-dame-loses-a-commitment-from-2028-qb-trey-tagliaferri-just-six-days-after-he-pledged-288096164/

 

[Marshall2323]

No.

Correct! Bingo

 

[Marshall2323]

We never offered, and there’s reasons for that.

Correct move now.....more problematic when he busts double coverage and spikes the ball in front of 107k and the student section.

 

[EricStratton-RushChairman]

Correct move now.....more problematic when he busts double coverage and spikes the ball in front of 107k and the student section.

Go to sleep Marshall... You'll need you rest for the long weekend

 

[Marshall2323]

That’s hindsight. One player won’t ha

Im

would the current recruiting class and season QB depth be better right now or worse if we still had Franklin? Would the teams talent composite moving into the season be lower or higher if we still had Franklin? Would we have whiffed on the amazing in state talent if we still ha Franklin? You can dislike Franklin and just have an insanely irrational view at the same time. Stew in your misery-I would be feeling much better about this season if Franklin were still here. We’re now like 6th team in the Big 10. Northwestern and Minnesota are just about as good as we are. We slip every day and you stick your head in the sand about how good it is that we fired James Franklin. Really smart.

Let's hope that securing Armstrong indicates an influx of cash (NIL) and a change in talent acquisition philosophy. Because no matter how good the coaching is, "coaching them up" isn't the path to "excellence at the highest level." Getting premier talent and then "coaching them up" is a better method.
Anyone who follows recruiting can go to "the internet tailgate" and quickly see that OSU got commits from 2 5 stars yesterday. They are piling up 5 star receivers like cord wood. Let's not continue to enter gunfights with water pistols.
Franklin is a much better coach than the BWICAC are willing to admit. We can only hope the CMC is as good as they think he is.

 

[Marshall2323]

Go to sleep Marshall... You'll need you rest for the long weekend

On my way to the casino. Sleep is something you do when everything else is done. My high school coach told me that a long time ago, I have an obligation to fix the BWICAC.

 

[NittanyLionRoar]

I would be feeling much better about this season if Franklin were still here. We’re now like 6th team in the Big 10. Northwestern and Minnesota are just about as good as we are. We slip every day and you stick your head in the sand about how good it is that we fired James Franklin. Really smart.

Hey, look at a the bright side. 6th is better than the 12th we finished last year. And 12th was an improvement over our standing after Franklin’s 0-3 Big Ten start.

Also, why’d you create a new nic? That’s weird.

 

[PSUFTG]

We never offered, and there’s reasons for that.

Oh my goodness! So nice to see that some of the "oldies but goodies" remain. I was fearful that all of the old justifiers were dead - now that "someone else dropped a bag on him" had become the default.

 

[PSUALREADYKNOW]

Perhaps Franklin can coach in the fake football Massachusetts Catholic league.

All you can do is sling mid

Evans was the only WR in that class to have any kind of on-field production. I remember him catching a few deep shots, not being able to separate on any route, other than a go route and quitting on the route that ended the ND game, when Drew threw the INT.

That class is a shining example of why we might be on the right track, not giving high schoolers crazy money.

A shining example!

 

[PSUALREADYKNOW]

Yeah. That kindof stings, but I’m not sure PSU was thought to really be in the running anyway. In other news, ND just added their second 5 star OL player today. They must be spending money like they are printing it with this class. I guess they didn’t get the memo that HS recruiting doesn’t matter anymore.

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/notre-dame-football-adds-5-194927876.html

Notre Dame and their fan base were calling for their head coaches head coaches head…but they gave Freeman a chance. Look where the two programs went since we lost to ND in that bowl. They did everything we should have done including keeping our coach. We as a program decided to get fancy when we didn’t have the budget, the information, or the pedigree. That’s called out kicking the coverage-great job Kraft and PSU spoiled fan base.

 

[PSUALREADYKNOW]

That's nice that you feel that way. But college players ARE taking money and unless PSU wishes to try and sell 107k seats to watch Patriot League contests or join the PSAC and play Bloomsburg and Kutztown, they need to start to attract the future super stars of college football.

"Walking away" from talent is easy in June. The lumps for such a decision will be painful September thru December each and every year.
The PSU football program Joe created for us is dead. Joe is dead and gone. Doing more with less, is not the answer anymore. I long for those days, when values were attached to college football. They are dead and gone as well. This is minor league professional football. Being 20-22 in NIL and on a budget, will over the long run, get you a budget preforming football program.
We Are.....not gonna pay?

It’s THIS-our fan base wants Joe Paterno success in an environment that’s 180 degrees different than it was. It’s a different game now and if you expect Joe Paterno results for PSU in 2026 you’re gonna have a bad time. PSU hasn’t been a dominant program like that since way back in the day. PSU has been 1B for a long while but that wasn’t good enough…you guys think we should be OSU so instead of being happy with what we had you wanted what isn’t even realistic in the first place based on Paterno’s success coaching a program decades ago.