UNIVERSITY PARK– It’s not often a recruit– even a top-end one– gets to meet with a Big Ten athletic director, but Penn State commit Jackson Ford wanted to do that this past weekend.
Before going to see Penn State play Nebraska Saturday, Ford, a four-star in-state EDGE prospect from Malvern Prep High School, wanted to meet with Pat Kraft— along with Ford’s parents— to find out some things about the current Penn State coaching search.
This is a big deal for Ford, who committed to Penn State over the summer expecting to play for James Franklin.
When Penn State fired Franklin in mid-October, plenty of Penn State’s 2026 Class either de-committed or stayed committed, but announced that they were re-opening their recruitment.
Ford did neither, and the plan is for him to sign with Penn State Dec. 3.
But before that, he found out some things from Kraft.
WHAT FORD FOUND OUT
The main thing Ford found out during his meeting with Kraft involved interim coach Terry Smith.
Ford found out from Kraft Friday that he planned to interview Smith for the full-time job Monday.
By 10:33 Saturday, players were holding signs on the field that said “Hire Terry Smith.”
The reason all this happened is because, through a situation nobody expected, Smith is not only keeping Penn State afloat, but has the team playing its best football.
“It just shows that coach Terry brought life back to them,” Ford told NSN, “after the team was kind of beat down, kicked to the curb, especially going into the season with such high hopes and a lot of pressure to be great. Being ranked number two preseason, that’s high expectations, and if you’re anything less than excellent, it feels like you didn’t complete what you were supposed to complete. But them being able to bounce back and then put up a great performance in a league game, it just kind of showed a different level of grit and different level of energy and passion inside the locker room.”
So why does Ford think Penn State should consider promoting Smith to full-time coach?
“I think he’s qualified for the job just because of the person he is,” Ford said. “Not even the coach, he’s just a great person. He’s very personable. He understands that, yes, I play football, yes, I’m a football player, but, at the end of the day, I’m still 17, I’m still a kid. I’m not an adult. I’m not a genius. He still talks to me and tries to understand me like I’m a kid, and he’s very open and very nice when talking to my family. I’ve had friends, too. He’s very nice talking to my family and friends. He’s just a great guy. Just a great person in general.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“He’s a good coach. He’s been coaching at Penn State for a while, and before he coached there, he played as well. Just that long history of football in general, you play the game long enough, you start to know the ins and outs of it. So I think he’s very experienced, I don’t think experience is a problem, and knowledge is definitely not a problem either. He’s a very smart guy on and off the field. So I think he’s just very suited for it on all levels of the job.”
DEION
It would be harder for Ford to stay at Penn State if his position coach isn’t there next season.
Deion Barnes has established himself as one of the country’s top young defensive line coaches at just 32 years old.
With Franklin now being the coach at Virginia Tech and filling out his staff, it’s fair to wonder if Barnes will be going with him.
Enter Franklin: Virginia Tech Expected to Hire Former Penn State HC James Franklin
If Barnes does go with Franklin, Ford said it would make it harder to resist Virginia Tech.
He also said that Kraft is committed to doing what he can to keep Barnes.
“Coach Barnes is obviously my guy,” Ford said. “I have a lot of faith in him and what he can do for me. His expertise at the position is definitely very wavering and is one of the big reasons I came to Penn State and committed. So I feel like him leaving or him transferring to Virginia Tech would cause some thought in my mind about a decision.
“But (Kraft) seems pretty confident. The AD says he’d like to keep him as much as he can. Obviously, if you get a new coach, the AD can’t completely tell the coach to keep him, but he can definitely put him at the top of the list,” he said.
As for Franklin, Ford said he called him after getting the VT job and asked if he’d be interested in coming along.
So is he thinking about it?
“I feel like it’s something you have to consider due to the situation,” Ford said. “But it’s not, I think in levels of priority. It’s Penn State and then Virginia Tech. That’s why we’re trying to figure out what Penn State’s next move is.”
With 10 commits left from a Class that once had 28, Ford is doing some recruiting himself.
“The guys that I do know, obviously, I’m telling them, it makes sense you’re looking somewhere else, but I feel like Penn State is bound to get a great coach and they’re bound to bounce back,” Ford said. “I feel like you can only hold down a good program like Penn State for so long. They’re bound to bounce back. They’re bound to prove everyone wrong, and I feel that if you can see that as a recruit and have that faith, I feel like when you get here, it’s just going to elevate your mindset. You’re going to want to work 10 times harder than you already worked, just to prove someone wrong. It puts a chip on your shoulder, and in football, it’s always good to have a chip on your shoulder. Helps motivate you, helps you play harder, puts you in a grind mindset. So I just think it’s a positive. You just stick with the program.
