Penn State Nittany Lions

How James Franklin already has Penn State excelling on the field and recruiting trail

Published Feb. 1, 2017 3:29 p.m. ET

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Stewart Mandel

It’s a very different climate on the recruiting trail right now for Penn State coach James Franklin. After spending his first two years there still trying to get out from under the Jerry Sandusky scandal and ensuing scholarship reductions, now he’s selling off the momentum of last fall’s surprising Big Ten championship season.




The 2017 class Penn State announced Wednesday will finish with a respectable Top 20 ranking. But the impact is being felt already for 2018. The Nittany Lions already have seven commitments, all of them four- or five-star in 247Sports’ composite rankings.

“Some people have us as the No. 1-ranked class in the country right now for 2018,” Franklin told FOX Sports in a Signing Day interview Wednesday. “We want to continue to build on that."

(Listen to the interview here, beginning at the 11:30 mark:)

“We’ve got a lot of young people across the country who are excited and calling. We had a great junior day the other day. It’s going to be a lot different, no doubt about it.”

Penn State is already well suited to continue the momentum from its breakout 11-win season and Rose Bowl berth in 2016. As Franklin points out, the Nittany Lions started just one senior on offense and three on defense. QB Trace McSorley, RB Saquon Barkley and several other stars from that team will suit up again this fall.

 Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Then comes the next wave. Four-star QB Sean Clifford (Cincinnati), committed to the program since the summer of 2015, finally signed Wednesday. Cornerback Lamont Wade (Clairton, Pa.), a Top 50 player nationally, is already enrolled. And Franklin said Wednesday that four-star defensive end Yetur Matos (Fredricksburg, Va.) “has a chance to be special.”

“He came to camp and ran very well – like elite well, Franklin said of the 6-foot-5, 240-pound player. “He’s a guy who should have been playing in every one of those All-Star games. He’s going to have an opportunity to prove to the country, and specifically the Penn State fan base, how special he is.”

All in all, the days of Franklin inheriting lowly ranked classes and making due with nine scholarship offensive linemen seem to be definitively in the past.

“One of the things that’s really going to help us elevate the whole program is we’re going to have legitimate competition two- three-deep at every position,” he said. “We didn’t have that when I got the job.”

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