Paging NittanyFan: Penn State PA Recruiting
What the hell is going on with Penn State's recruiting in Pennsylvania? As things stand today - and we are a long way from signing day and things are weird right now - there is a very real chance that Penn State signs 0 of the Top 15 players in their state. Right now that is:
- #13 Nolan Rucci - Penn State legacy, but Clemson seems to be the pick as of today
- #22 Kyle McCord - OSU Commit
- #34 Jeremiah Trotter Jr. - Clemson Commit
- #52 Derrick Davis - Crystal Ball is 60% Cloudy, Clemson, Notre Dame, OSU, and PSU listed as "Warm"
- #56 Marvin Harrison Jr. - OSU Commit
- #119 Elliott Donald - Crystal Ball is 100% Pitt, related to Aaron Donald
- #150 Nahki Johnson - Pitt Commit
- #167 Elijah Jeudy - Georgia Commit
- #289 Tysheem Johnson - No Crystal Ball and no schools listed as "warm", no clue here
- #402 Dorien Ford - Crystal Ball 100% Pitt
- #437 Donovan McMillon - No Crystal Balls, thought to be Michigan/Notre Dame ball, recently bumped to #201 overall on 247 Sports
- #651 Robert Jackson - No Penn State offer
- #668 Aaron Gunn - Louisville Commit, no Penn State offer
- #692 Javon McIntyre - Pitt Commit
- #699 Tyreek Chappell - Named Top Four of Michigan, Texas A&M, Tennessee, and Arizona State, eliminating Penn State
That is bleak, no? I can't imagine the board here if Michigan's in-state recruiting looked like this - we meltdown even when we get almost everyone we want. Six of the top ten in Michigan this year will probably go to Michigan. The ones who don't will go to Northwestern (Tiernan), Penn State (Reed - no Michigan offer), LSU? (Dellinger), and Cloudy but feels SEC (Payne).
I know Penn State is focusing on Michigan in addition to other areas, and they just got the King brothers who Michigan definitely wanted, but, man, it feels weird that nobody is discussing this. Are Penn State fans concerned, or not really?
That PA class looks like a real dichotomy . . . a bunch of top 50 guys that got swept away by OSU and Clemson (which would happen to us too) and then except for a couple of guys, a big drop off.
It looks like a situation where Penn State could not get the PA guys it wanted, and did not want the PA guys it could get.
So they'll go shopping somewhere else.
April 19th, 2020 at 10:05 PM ^
I'm sure that's true for some, but I think Donald, Jeudy, McMillon, and Chappell are all guys that Penn State would love to have in their class. Nahki Johnson has a PSU offer but I have no idea how hard they pursued him.
McMillon and Chappell are on their way up the rankings. Both will end as four stars in the consensus, IMO.
Going off just 247's rankings because they are the only site updating right now, Pennsylvania has 11 four stars this cycle and Michigan has 9. The most likely outcome for those in-state blue chip recruits right now looks like 5/9 for Michigan and 2/11 for Penn State if I'm being generous and saying they get one of Rucci or Davis.
That's bad right? Like if Michigan only got 2 of the 9 four stars in the state this cycle we would all be losing our minds.
Maybe they do not like frames' artwork???
or better yet they read MGoBlog and they agree with my postscript!
BTW, FUCK ped state and all their delusional joepa loving fans and all the paternos and field goal franklin!!!
Lots of talent in PA. Our goal should be to get a top guy or two from Pennsylvania every year.
April 19th, 2020 at 10:07 PM ^
I really want Chappell and McMillon. McMillon I am not holding my breath for, but Chappell is a guy who will continue to rise in the rankings at a position we need in the class. He's a battle we can and should win. Texas A&M is probably the main competition for him, as Elijah Robinson is from the area and recruits NJ/Philly very well.
April 19th, 2020 at 10:44 PM ^
Hey - I am here. I was just out having beers (6 feet apart!!!) on the patio with a good friend.
I'll be honest, I don't follow recruiting much at all. So I don't know the particulars about any of those PA guys.
What I do know: PSU has only gotten ~ 4-6 PA kids in each of the last few recruiting classes. Most of those classes did, however, have an "in-state big whale" (e.g., Miles Sanders, Lamont Wade, Micah Parsons). But Franklin hasn't seemed to load up on PA recruits over the years. So if he gets, say, 2-4 PA kids that wouldn't be that much of an outlier.
PSU setting up a bit of a Detroit/Michigan pipeline is definitely different. In the 2000s, PSU had, I believe, 2 Michigan kids for the decade. Tim Shaw and some OL from Groves who didn't pan out. That was it!
Sorry I couldn't be much more help.
April 19th, 2020 at 10:52 PM ^
What about a MA pipeline? Does Franklin have any interest there?
Asking for a friend.
April 19th, 2020 at 11:02 PM ^
Thanks, good to know. I would think PA would be more of a pipeline as it is usually at least equal in talent to Michigan and usually better. I know it’s tough with OSU so close too.
Your DB Coach Banks is from Detroit and seems to be doing some good work here. We didn’t care for the Reed kid you guys got, but I know we were high on the King brothers. Lavert Hill and Quinn Nordic were PSU commits, and I remember Robert Boldin, Allen Robinson, and Anthony Zettel going back some years. Seems like y’all have been picking at Michigan for years.
Thanks for stopping in and be well.
April 19th, 2020 at 11:24 PM ^
Yeah, PA definitely has talent. For whatever reason, Franklin's never had huge numbers from PA. Paterno was very Pennsylvania-centric back in the day (O'Brien, for obvious reasons, just got whoever he could get during his 2 years).
You are right on Boldin, Robinson and Zettel. They were all in Paterno's last 2 classes (2010, 2011). So was CJ Olaynian, who came out of Warren Mott. You're right that PSU was getting a few Michigan kids even prior to Franklin and Banks - I guess a switch of sorts was flipped beginning in 2010.
Stay safe and hang in there. I'm definitely happy to make a couple posts about football as opposed to you know what. :-)
April 19th, 2020 at 11:00 PM ^
Why would PSU load up on Pennsylvania talent when they could be looking for fullbacks in Connecticut?
April 19th, 2020 at 11:13 PM ^
They're recruiting seems fine to me. Wouldn't worry about it much if I were a fan.
April 19th, 2020 at 11:38 PM ^
It is fine. I just view it through the prism of “how would our fans act if this is how our recruiting looked?” And hoo boy
April 19th, 2020 at 11:44 PM ^
Speaking of going 0-fer in Pennsylvania, Michigan has not signed an upper tier player from Pennsylvania in a few years at least. I’m not a big complainer about recruiting as are some because I understand there are so many dynamics which go into signing a class, but I would think Michigan would have some connections in PA to have more than that.
April 20th, 2020 at 12:16 AM ^
Hopefully the success of Devin Bush, Chase Winovich, and Khaleke Hudson, plus the hiring of Shoop helps
They're too busy taking all of Michigan's top instate talent. Am I doing this right?
April 20th, 2020 at 10:30 AM ^
This is the whole point of the current series I'm doing on TTB. Penn State is reaching outside its state to find successful players (and success on the field), but Michigan fans are freaking out that they're not locking down every single player in the Mitten.
Most OSU fans freak out if they don't lock down Ohio, too. When Day took the job, one of the first things he said was he was going to focus on recruiting Ohio first, much to the pleasure of the fan base.
It does seem weird that PSU wouldn't sign a single top-15 in-state player, much like it would be crazy to think OSU or Michigan wouldn't land a top-15 player from their respective states.They aren't going to take a player just because he's a PA kid (and they shouldn't), just seems crazy.
April 20th, 2020 at 10:59 AM ^
Franklin does try to make sure he secures the best player in Pennsylvania every year and will do what he has to for that, but like Michigan sometimes that's just not going to be possible if you're going up against one of the handful of teams that are going to the playoffs every year. Also you can't control who those guys are. Pennsylvania this year has some national prospects then a big drop to the range of guys who would normally go to Pitt or Syracuse. The national guys have offers and SEC bidding wars that are going to dwarf locality, and then you're shooting yourself in the foot if you prioritize a worse player from Pennsylvania over a better player from Michigan.
I'm not sure PSU has those twins as secured as they think they do, but they did show something by getting them. One thing about Franklin's recruiting is he has a great initial punch--he's really one of the most likable guys in the game and that counts for a lot in recruiting. But the glamour wears off and he has a harder time keeping his classes together than other programs. I think Michigan and Notre Dame do a better job of knowing more specifically what kind of player they're looking for and going after them, and they suffer fewer decommits and transfers for personal reasons because of it. And it seems Franklin's been trying to change that by doing a better job of understanding what kinds of guy is a Penn State guy. When you narrow your focus like that, you start to find other things like in-state players and rivalry head-to-heads don't matter to you as much. I like his program more today than I did three or four years ago. Not winning as many battles in-state seems ancillary.
DMT, it seems like you're confident of landing Edwards, Spindler, and Benny. While I haven't followed Benny's recruitment much, I know Edwards and Spindler are being heavily recruited by other big programs. It seems like Oklahoma has recently turned up the heat on Edwards with Georgia being in on him for quite some time, and while all the Midwest powers went after Spindler, it seems like it's down to UM and ND. Do you think all 3 end up at UM, and if not, how would you rank them in order of importance to the program?
(For the record, I really wanted Edwards at OSU and I'm bummed that he'll be going elsewhere. He seems like a great kid and is obviously a great player).