They also lost a 4 star lineman to ND yesterday and of rhe course there is Obrien who l believe announces tomorrow...
Remember that a third to a half of recruits in any one class most likely will enter the portal at some point in their careers and transfer, often to multiple schools, and that includes even the four and five star guys. That's why I don't follow recruting like I used to and neither get that excited when somebody commits to PSU nor that disappointed when somebody doesn't.
That's s good point....when many of these high 4 star and 5 star guys don't get immediate playing time they don't hesitate to hit the portal. It's got to be exhausting for these coaches tp constantly have to re recruit their current roster every year while also hitting the high school ranks and monitoring the portal for possible fits
Then just move on to others. In the end, there's very little difference with the vast majority of these players who are being recruited by schools like PSU and ND, regardless of how many stars they have. Just look at Tyler Warren, who ended up being one of the best PSU players in the 2000s; how many stars did he have?
Was it Deion Sanders who said that he really wasn't even focused that much on recruiting, but rather intended to use the portal and transfers mainly to stock his teams?
I ve read quite a few pieces about more NIL being used for roster retention than the class of 2026. Who knows though. They'll never reveal the numbers but at some point you have to wonder if they will. I'm sure that Aller has a nice deal
Yeah I see the point but getting them through the portal is pretty much a big wildcard. Fleming, this current A&M transfer White are two that were highly regarded out of HS then who knows what you will get. We did get A.J. Harris from Georgia to transfer so that has worked out.
If PSU can bring in recruiting classes that are on either side of a Top 10 ranking, I'll take that. You can win with those kind of classes; Michigan just did that with their 2021 through 2023 teams.
I don't want to panic or be overly pessimistic but I also want to at least get into the top 10 class ranking. Maybe that is not a big deal now because of the portal and that seems to be the consensus. I would think we can get a top ten class with the resources at our disposal but we do seem to miss on a lot of elite guys for whatever reason.
But what about the recruits that PSU does land who were considering other top schools? I mean, PSU is 34-8 in the last three seasons; they haven't done that with a bunch of Pitt or MAC level recruits.
I don't want us slipping to #15-#16 ranked classes. That is too much of a gap versus a #5 or even #8 class for example. It means you have a lot of 3 stars playing against high 4 stars and 5 stars. Not to bash Franklin but he has not shown the ability to beat teams with more talent. Those 8 losses are all or just about all against teams that have out recruited us or at least matched us in recruiting. We have to stay close to them in recruiting and then hopefully Franklin will learn how to win these big games facing a team with better talent but not significantly better.
I agree. Despite PSU taking a step forward in making the playoffs and winning two playoff games and making the Final Four, it still was 2-3 against the two best Big 10 teams and the three playoff teams that it played. That's why 2025 is so important for PSU to go one step further like Michigan did in 2023.
Yes he is kind of his own worst enemy in recruiting with all these big game losses. If we could get all the way to a natty or even to the final game this year that would be huge for the program. It would be an accelerator to recruiting as you suggest.
And a little extra special scouting from some truly great Michigan Men of Integrity!
It's not good when we keep losing kids from MD & PA to ND. I hope we don't lose Joey O'Brien.
Expect O'Brien to ND. Highly doubt we land him. Hope I'm wrong. With NIL so pervasive it takes away or minimizes the local region/in state advantage we may have with these elite players where you are talking big bucks. They go where the money is and going to ND if you live in PA or MD is not going that far away.
I never could stand Notre Dame and their smug coach makes them even more intolerable
We never should have lost to them in the semis. That game was brutally disappointing.
I think if Aller had even an average game they would have won by 10 points....the loss continues with all these recruits. And we know Seider will continue to pursue Speller and maybe even Mickens even though both have given the infamous 1000% commited tweet
Another 4th quarter collapse by a Franklin coached team vs a top opponent.
Just bad memories. Another example of our coach and players coming up small in the biggest moments of the biggest games.
The worse thing about Warren is that he was obviously our best player in 2023 when we refused to use a 2 TE set despite the fact that our two best receivers played the position. Instead, more 3 receiver nonsense which is all on Franklin because he loves him some 11 personnel grouping even if the receivers can't play. The only explanation I can think of.
The 22 to present trajectory likely only holds if we continue to have the easiest schedules we have played in the league which we did in 22, 23 and 24 with 24 being the easiest since at least the 80s. All data suggests that if we revert to the mean schedule wise, we'll be stuck at 8-4.
I saw a list on another site that had PSU's 2026 class currently listed as #7, and USC and ND as well as OSU already were ranked somewhere in the top 6. Therefore, the most recent losses won't drop PSU behind those schools. Like I said, I'll take a class near the top 10.
The 80s schedules regularly featured Pitt, ND, Nebraska, Bama, WVU, Syracuse. Maryland, and even competitive Temple and Rutgers teams. Those schedules were much more difficult than the average Big 10 or Big 8 schedule.
The numbers prove it out actually. My comment regarding the 80s is that there isn't much information available for the 80s so unless I am going to spend hours compiling it (which I am not), I can't comment. But, when you look at the regular season schedule we have played, the last three seasons are easily the easiest since joining the Big Ten and 24 was really easy.
Oh, I know. It's Wally who doesn't seem to. 80s were tough. Probably among the toughest we have ever played.
Penn State will finish with a barely top 25 class. Most of Penn states class is filled and a lot of other teams still have to fill theirs.
PSU will finish with at least a class in in the high to mid 10s, and signing day isn't until December, so any verbal commitments are worth as much as used toilet paper until then; a lot of things can and will change with most of these schools between now and then.
You just don't know how to read. What does, "at least since the 80's" mean? Think about it.
