Thanksgiving gave Penn State fans more than they bargained for on the recruiting trail.
Between the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the NFL games, and the meal you consumed, three PSU commits flipped to follow James Franklin to Virginia Tech: tight end Pierce Petersohn and offensive linemen Marlen Bright and Roseby Lubintus.
It’s easy to get frustrated by negative news, but I’m here to explain why I’m not fazed.
I always encourage young people to find situations that best fit them. If following James Franklin is the best path for a young athlete, I’m not going to criticize that.
On a recent appearance on The Nitwits, former Penn State defensive tackle Al Pola, uncle of Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu, noted that when he was recruited, the emphasis was on committing to the school, not the coach.
Some might say that logic is outdated, but consider this: three SEC powers going through coaching changes; LSU, Florida and Auburn, have fewer than five decommitments combined.
Whoever is in charge next at Penn State has a tall task to put some semblance of a recruiting class together. Through that recruitment there needs to be a proper balance of commiting to the school and coach.
To me, Franklin never fully leveraged in his recruitment Penn State’s greatest assets to its athletes.
At a program of Penn State’s caliber, you have the history and tradition of producing NFL talent, Top 10 all-time with nearly 400 draft picks and one of only three schools in the last eight drafts to have five or more players selected each year.
Current Penn State commit Jackson Ford believes strongly in the program’s future.
“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 recently about his commitment to Penn State to Nittany Sports Now. “I feel like you can only hold down a good program like Penn State for so long. They’re bound to prove everyone wrong… It puts a chip on your shoulder, and in football, it’s always good to have a chip on your shoulder… You just stick with the program.”
The facilities remain among the nation’s best and continue to improve through capital upgrades to training centers, locker rooms, and Beaver Stadium.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Penn State also has the NIL resources to compete with any school in the country. Some analysts, including Landon Tengwall, suggested last week that Penn State was consistently offering lower NIL packages to athletes. Tengwall also indicated that NIL strategy was among the rifts between Franklin and athletic director Pat Kraft.
When you listen to Kraft, his vision is unmistakably big. Everything he says reflects an ambition to make Penn State the preeminent brand in college athletics. I believe that under his direction, the next head coach will have the resources necessary to win recruiting battles for elite talent.
One of Franklin’s biggest recruiting faults—based on Tengwall’s comments—is his belief that college athletics should be “transformational, not transactional.” While I agree with that philosophy in theory, there is simply too much money on the table for exceptional prospects, and even for those with the potential to be good, to ignore the transactional side entirely.
That transaction, however, has to showcase what Penn State can do for them.
Ask Saquon Barkley, who is the reigning top player in the NFL 100.
Ask Micah Parsons, who is the first player in NFL history to have 12 or more sacks in his first five seasons, might be the league’s top EDGE, while Penn State just sent the top defensive player taken in the 2025 NFL Draft in Abdul Carter, who will look to compete with Parsons as the best at their position.
Ask Tyler Warren, who is having an NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign for the Indianapolis Colts.
Franklin may have casted them into the athletes they become, but Penn State perfected the mold long before he arrived in 2014 and will continue to do so without him.
Those who remain committed to the school believe their futures can be shaped at Penn State and that the program can help them achieve their ambitious goals. For those who believe and stay, they’ll be part of brighter days.
While Franklin enjoys his head start, Penn State hasn’t even been on offense since his firing. It’s painful now, but soon enough the recruiting operation will be firing on all cylinders, and prospects will see why committing to Penn State is transformative for their futures.
