Two years ago, I dug into the Nittany recruiting class, remarking at how strong the offers were for the prospects that eventually comprised the Nittany class: the spurned offers were littered with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, and even Alabama.
After commending head coach James Franklin for signing one of the school's best classes ever, I examined all of Penn State's classes for the prior decade in depth. Go read that piece for a full summary. For this piece, a brief primer will suffice:
Paterno's Last Five Classes
2007: 39th (14 recruits, 0 ★★★★★, 4 ★★★★, 9 ★★★)
2008: 40th (15 recruits, 0 ★★★★★, 5 ★★★★, 9 ★★★)
2009: 19th (24 recruits, 0 ★★★★★, 7 ★★★★, 16 ★★★)
2010: 13th (18 recruits, 0 ★★★★★, 13 ★★★★, 5 ★★★)
2011: 31st (16 recruits, 0 ★★★★★, 5 ★★★★, 10 ★★★)
The 2012 Class (Paterno, an exodus, then O'Brien)
2012: 47th (20 recruits, 0 ★★★★★, 3 ★★★★, 16 ★★★)
O'Brien's Class
2013: 33rd (16 recruits, 1 ★★★★★, 3 ★★★★, 11 ★★★)
The 2014 Class (O'Brien, then Franklin)
2014: 24th (25 recruits, 0 ★★★★★, 5 ★★★★, 20 ★★★)
Franklin's First Five Classes
2015: 14th (25 recruits, 0 ★★★★★, 13 ★★★★, 12 ★★★)
2016: 20th (20 recruits, 1 ★★★★★, 7 ★★★★, 11 ★★★)
2017: 15th (22 recruits, 0 ★★★★★, 11 ★★★★, 10 ★★★)
2018: 6th (23 recruits, 3 ★★★★★, 12 ★★★★, 8 ★★★)
2019: 13th (23 recruits, 1 ★★★★★, 17 ★★★★, 5 ★★★)
The path to signing the 2020 class was bumpy, to say the least. In the span of a week in early June, the class lost four four-star recruits: OLB Derek Wingo to Florida, CB Joshuah Moten to Texas A&M, OT Grant Toutant to Ohio State (though Toutant subsequently dipped to three-star status), and G Aaryn Parks to Oklahoma. That stretch was surely discouraging.
But the class didn't stay down for long as the coaching staff somehow secured a stunning 14 recruits between June 3rd and July 5th. In the 15 or so years that I've followed recruiting, I don't remember a stretch of anything even close to this.
As was the case last year, the point of this post is simple: the players that comprise the class are largely players targeted by elite peer institutions. While the 2020 class will always come with a twinge of disappointment as it doesn't include either DE Bryan Bresee or WR Julian Fleming despite both of those elite 2020 prospects being in Nittany's own backyard, it does present an intriguing case study in the gaps between player evaluation by other top-notch college coaching staffs and those of the professional recruiting sites. Here's the top five offers for each player in the Penn State class (using my own highly unofficial prestige rankings).
- ★★★★ OLB Curtis Jacobs
- Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Florida, Nebraska, Wisconsin
- ★★★★ TE Theo Johnson
- Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan
- ★★★★ CB Enzo Jennings
- Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame
- ★★★★ WR KeAndre Lambert
- Clemson, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida
- ★★★★ RB Caziah Holmes
- Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, Auburn, Florida State
- ★★★★ DT Cole Brevard
- Clemson, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida State
- ★★★★ DT Coziah Izzard
- Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame, Texas A&M
- ★★★★ RB Keyvone Lee
- Alabama, Florida, LSU, Florida State, Tennessee
- ★★★★ WR Parker Washington
- Wisconsin, Nebraska, Duke, Kentucky, Utah
- ★★★★ WR Jaden Dottin
- Michigan, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Duke
- ★★★★ OLB Zuriah Fisher
- Texas A&M, Nebraska, Michigan State, Kentucky, Minnesota
- ★★★ OT Jimmy Christ
- Clemson, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida
- ★★★ CB Joseph Johnson
- Ohio State, Florida State, Florida, Texas A&M, Pittsburgh
- ★★★ OT Olu Fashanu
- Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan, Oregon
- ★★★ G Golden Israel-Achumba
- LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Florida, Ole Miss
- ★★★ QB Micah Bowens
- Oregon, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Brigham Young, Arizona
- ★★★ S Ji'Ayir Brown (JUCO)
- Kent State (Brown also committed immediately upon receiving his early offer)
- ★★★ DE Amin Vanover
- Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon
- ★★★ ILB Tyler Elsdon
- West Virginia, Louisville, Maryland, Virginia, Vanderbilt (Ivys, too)
- ★★★ DE Brandon Taylor
- Michigan, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia
- ★★★ DE Bryce Mostella
- Ohio State, Michigan, Miami, Nebraska, Kentucky
- ★★★ WR Malick Meiga
- South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Baylor, Louisville
- ★★★ WR Norval Black (JUCO)
- N/A (Black committed immediately upon receiving his first offer)
- ★★★ TE Tyler Warren
- Michigan, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Virginia
- ★★★ DT Fatorma Mulbah
- Temple, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Navy, Army
- ★★★ OT Ibrahim Traore
- Miami, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Minnesota, West Virginia
- ★★★ G Nick Dawkins
- Tennessee, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Northwestern, Louisville (Ivys, too)
The transfer portal has yet to wield its full influence on the Penn State roster, but even with a handful of players off to the NFL, Penn State figures to lose half a dozen players or more to the portal in addition to former five-star recruit WR Justin Shorter. Shorter leaving surely hurts from an optics standpoint, but his inability to catch the ball derailed his career at Penn State more than anything else could. Such is life now in major college football.
Of course, there could also be an incoming transfer or two even though the depth chart doesn't feature an obvious hole outside of perhaps an experienced cornerback, especially if Tariq Castro-Fields opts for the NFL draft.
In the end, the 2020 recruiting class surely wasn't as impressive as the 2018 haul and there's a case to be made that the 2019 group was stronger despite its similar overall ranking. Nevertheless, the 2020 group turned out to be another strong one:
Of course, there could also be an incoming transfer or two even though the depth chart doesn't feature an obvious hole outside of perhaps an experienced cornerback, especially if Tariq Castro-Fields opts for the NFL draft.
In the end, the 2020 recruiting class surely wasn't as impressive as the 2018 haul and there's a case to be made that the 2019 group was stronger despite its similar overall ranking. Nevertheless, the 2020 group turned out to be another strong one:
Franklin's Most Recent Class
2020: 13th (likely 14th/15th in the end) (27 recruits, 0 ★★★★★, 11 ★★★★, 16 ★★★)
Before offering final thoughts on the class, all of my standard Franklin-centric disclaimers apply, especially this one: it's a good thing that Franklin continues to bring in strong classes because his gameday coaching continues to lag horribly behind his peers, especially those in the Big Ten East, and he'll need a number of young players to step into key roles this year.
At first glance, that annual requirement looks like a taller order in future years given the lack of ultra elite talent in this year's class. And in two senses, I agree: (1) the ratings are objectively a bit lower than in prior years, and (2) the class features a disproportionately high number of projects on the line, players who notoriously develop more slowly than players at skill positions. In another sense, however, there are some real reasons for optimism. In particular, I'm encouraged by the other offers received by many of Nittany's three-star recruits. OT Fashanu stands out with offers from most elite schools as does DE Vanover as a defensive lineman offered by each of Clemson, Alabama, and Ohio State. I'm also hopeful due to the relatively high ratings of a handful of the three-star players: there are 368 players comprising the five- and four-star ranks of the 247 Composite. Of Penn State's three-star recruits, Christ is 369th, Johnson is 379th, Fashanu is 394th, Israel-Achumba is 422nd, Bowens is 423rd, and even Vanover is 441st with Brown landing somewhere between Bowens and Vanover (albeit as a JUCO). This surely isn't quite as fun as having a class with 15+ four-star recruits, but it's something.
For now, after compiling just one top-15 class from 2007-14, Penn State can celebrate their fifth such class in six full years under Franklin.
