I often get cited by our readers over the time of my writing ventures for sometimes using worn out tropes or hackneyed cliches.
It is just a nature of our business and I am going to use another one right now relating to Penn State’s pursuit of La Salle College (Glenside, PA) five-star safety Joey O’Brien.
The cliche here is that O’Brien is a “must get” for James Franklin to fortify his home turf and continue his “Dominate the State” manifesto he outlined when he first arrived at Penn State in 2014.
In that introductory press conference, Franklin said: “Our recruiting philosophy, we are going to dominate the state. We are going to dominate the state. We are going to dominate the region.”
Since then, Franklin has dominated Pennsylvania recruiting. The No. 1 ranked Pennsylvania prospect has either signed with Penn State or transferred in nine of the 11 recruiting cycles.
While the losses of Nolan Rucci and Julian Fleming stung at the time, they found their way to Penn State via the portal and had a positive impact on the 2024 team. Some of Franklin’s best players have been PA guys. Saquon Barkley (2015), Micah Parsons (2018), and Nick Singleton (2022). There are those that sting like D’Andre Swift (2017) or Marvin Harrison Jr. (2021) but those seem few and far between.
Looking at the Class of 2026, Penn State has six of the top 10 Pennsylvania recruits: No. 2 overall safety Matt Seig (Fort Cherry – McDonald, PA), No. 3 overall in tackle Kevin Brown (Harrisburg – Harrisburg, PA), No. 4 overall in quarterback Peyton Falzone (Nazareth – Nazareth, PA), running back Messiah Mickens (Harrisburg – Harrisburg, PA) at No. 6 overall, followed by No. 7 overall in linebacker Terry Wiggins (Coatesville, Coatesville, PA), and finally the No. 9 overall Derek Davis, an athlete out of Imani Christian Academy in Pittsburgh, PA.
Landing the five-star O’Brien would give Penn State not only its seventh out of 10 per 247Sports, but it would also further establish a pipeline with La Salle College, the same school that produced Abdul Carter, who was the No. 9 overall prospect in the Class of 2022 in Pennsylvania who went on to be the top defensive player selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The 2026 class isn’t an anomaly for Franklin.
In the class of 2027, Penn State has secured commitments from 247Sports No. 1 rated running back in the nation in Kemon Spell (McKeesport) and wide receiver Khalil Taylor (Seton LaSalle – Pittsburgh, PA) who is rated in the top 10 nationally at wide receiver and the No. 4 overall Pennsylvania prospect by 247Sports.
One has to wonder how much Bob Palko, a legend in the WPIAL who won numerous WPIAL Championships including taking home the 2021 Don Shula NFL High School Coach of the Year Award, has positively impacted Franklin as Director of High School relations.
Penn State football commit Quinton Martin runs with the football for Belle Vernon.
Penn State has had some success in the Pittsburgh area schools, along with the efforts of Palko, Franklin and former Gateway head coach (Monroeville, PA) and longtime Franklin assistant Terry Smith, the WPIAL is now where Penn State plucks the top prospects from, whether it was Quinton Martin out of Belle Vernon, Miles Sanders from Woodland Hills or LaMont Wade from Clairton.
Franklin has absolutely fulfilled his manifesto more than a decade in at Penn State at dominating the state. If Notre Dame, who is also in the race for O’Brien, snaps Franklin’s streak of landing No. 1 Pennsylvania recruits – it isn’t an indictment on James Franklin. But landing O’Brien will put a wall up around the Keystone State and give PSU an advantage it hasn’t enjoyed in the state since the heights of the Paterno era – as Glen Mason once said as an assistant at Ohio State – if the kid was in Pennsylvania, Maryland, or New Jersey and fit the Penn State DNA, it wasn’t worth trying to pry him from Penn State because he probably was already there.
As James Franklin continues to build relationships and seemingly a wall across the Keystone State, the belief he can deliver a national championship is now real and the kids of Pennsylvania are responding in waves wanting to fulfill that potential. There is no end in sight of Franklin’s in-state dominance and that is a very much welcoming sign for Penn State fans.
