Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541990
6 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M F or the past decade at Iowa State, new Penn State head football coach Matt Campbell gained a reputation for doing more with less. The Cyclones aren't located in a recruiting hotbed, and the program's history and tradition weren't luring top recruits to Ames on a regular basis. As a result, Campbell and his staff had few options but to nail the evalua- tion side of recruiting. He won 72 games from the time he was hired in 2016 until he left for Penn State in early December, and he did so at a program that had fin- ished the season ranked just three times in its history before he arrived. Iowa State had a five-year stretch without an NFL Draft pick from 2014- 18, but Campbell sent 15 Cyclones to the draft in the seven years that fol- lowed, the most recent being receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, who were chosen in the second and third rounds, respectively, of the 2025 draft. Charles Power, Rivals' director of scouting and rankings, tracks signees across the FBS every year and described the Cyclones as overachievers during Campbell's tenure, thanks largely to the coach's skill at spotting and developing talent. "We're able to watch every FBS signee in every cycle, and in doing that, we can get a feel for how programs, coaching staffs and front offices re- ally stack up in terms of their evalua- tion skills," Power explained. "You can see who punches above their weight from an evaluation perspective. We see trends every year, and in having that perspective, it's safe to say that Matt Campbell and his staff at Iowa State have been some of the best pound-for- pound evaluators in college football. "I think you see that in the NFL Draft. He and his staff have been able to de- velop consistently at a program that, be- fore he got there, wasn't really churning out NFL prospects. Their ability to mine these high-upside developmental gems has been really impressive." While Brock Purdy, now a Pro Bowler with the San Francisco 49ers, remains the only quarterback Campbell has sent to the NFL, he does have a reputation for identifying talent at the game's most important position. Campbell signed in- state passer Alex Manske, who was rated by On3 as the No. 55 overall prospect in the 2025 class, and current standout Rocco Becht has been an effective starter the past three seasons. "They've done a really good job on both sides of the ball, but with Campbell, his bread and butter is going to be with quarterbacks and offense," Power said. "When you look at how coaches evaluate quarterback prospects, it's increasingly accelerated. It's very tough for offensive coaches to make what results in a long- term decision based on how a quarter- back looks as a 10th-grader, essentially. I think Campbell is way up there as someone who can identify high-upside prospects early. "He was the first offer [to future Michigan star] JJ McCarthy. His initial quarterback commitment this cycle was Jett Thomalla, who ended up signing with Alabama and is a top-100 prospect. I think that Campbell has done a good job identifying these guys. Obviously, he had Brock Purdy and was early on him when he blew up as a senior. I think with Matt Campbell, you're getting sharp eval skills. They're very resourceful, and they have a good vision of what a good devel- opmental prospect looks like." Per the Rivals Industry Team Ranking, Iowa State had the No. 50 class in the 2026 cycle prior to Campbell's exit. The move to Penn State, which finished in the top 15 of the team rankings in every cycle from 2021-25, will come with plenty of differences for the new staff. "They'll have resources that they just simply haven't had yet," Power said. "When you look at what Penn State of- fers in terms of a budget and prestige perspective, he's going to have an easier time holding on to the guys that they've identified early and perhaps blow up later. "Then you're going to have to factor that into managing roster churn and conditioning it to fit the needs of Penn State, which has a two-man [2026] sign- ing class right now. From a talent evalu- ation standpoint, it's probably not too dissimilar to what you saw under James Franklin, but I do think Campbell has a little bit of an X-factor with quarterback evals, from what we've seen. "If I were a Penn State fan, I think you're going to be getting a lot of things that you like about James Franklin's staff from a talent-acquisition perspective, and I think that Campbell has the poten- tial to supercharge that. I've always been a fan of their evaluations, so it's going to be really fun to see what they do." ■ Current San Francisco 49ers starter Brock Purdy is an example of Campbell's ability to evaluate and develop quarterbacks. PHOTO COURTESY SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS Matt Campbell's Eye For Talent Will Elevate Penn State JUDGMENT CALL O P I N I O N SEAN FITZ SEAN.FITZ@ON3.COM