Blue White Illustrated

Innovative approach yields results J ames Franklin has been on the job for about six months now, and what a honeymoon it's been. Not only did he become a fan favorite during the annual caravan – the man proved he knows how to win over a room - but he has proved that he's a hellacious recruiter, one capable of tak- ing Penn State places it's been dreaming about going for decades. But there are multiple reasons why Penn State has enjoyed so much success lately in recruiting. As enticing as the Lasch Building, Beaver Stadium and the rest of campus may be, buildings and amenities only go so far in enticing re- cruits. Franklin and his assistants know that. One thing that has really stood out to me is their team-oriented approach. Under Joe Paterno and later Bill O'Brien, Penn State deployed its assis- tant coaches in a very conventional way. The Nittany Lions would assign a coach to a specific region and let that coach initiate relationships. If a prospect seemed interested, the coach would get him on campus and introduce him to the head coach and his potential posi- tion coach. That might seem like a logical, sensi- ble way to handle recruiting, but as Franklin and his assistants have proven, it's old-school. In their system, multiple coaches contact the same prospect throughout the week, allowing him to get a feel for what the entire staff is like, not just one random assistant who might not even coach the player's posi- tion. Consider, for example, the way that Penn State pursued offensive lineman Sterling Jenkins of Baldwin High in Pittsburgh. The Lions have two assis- tants on their staff who are originally from the Pittsburgh area – Terry Smith and Bob Shoop – but instead of desig- nating one of those coaches as the sole contact, Penn State used a team effort. Shoop would tweet him a message on Monday, then Smith would contact him on Facebook two days later. On Friday, offensive line coach Herb Hand would have a Twitter conversation with him, and then the week would end with a phone conversation with Franklin. Penn State does still use the standard regional approach to some degree, but it's mainly for scouting purposes. Once the staff identifies its key targets, it's a full-go, all-out effort, one that prospects have praised time after time. One other noteworthy aspect of Penn State's recruiting strategy is the way in which staff members carry them- selves. Recruits looked up to Paterno and O'Brien, often viewing them as father figures or as football superiors – coach- es who could transform them into the NFL players they aspired to be. With Franklin, there is definitely still a level of respect, but he forms a differ- ent kind of bond. He's the kind of guy who will come up to you, do a special handshake that you two have invented over the past few months, then talk about that crazy play that was on SportsCenter all week. Basically, he acts like a brother or a friend, not a coach, and his casual demeanor has ab- solutely caught the attention of many prospects. I watched Franklin's approach during Penn State's summer camps, and I'll be paying attention when the staff hosts three more camps July 18-20. During camps, I'm supposed to be evaluating prospects, but really, I've been evaluat- ing James Franklin. What I've observed is simple: This guy is on the cutting edge when it comes to what's new-school in recruiting. ■ changed in recent weeks, except that he received an o4er from Georgia re- cently, so it will be interesting to see whether he shows any interest in the Southeastern Conference power. It appears as though Whitehead has no intention of making a decision in the near future. Throughout the re- cruiting process, he has said he in- tends to use his o5cial visits and an- nounce his choice a6er his senior sea- son, so that's what we expect him to do. As of this writing, he did not look to be leaning in any particular direc- tion. All four of the local programs appeared to be on fairly equal footing, but it wouldn't be surprising if a few other major programs were to extend o4ers before he makes his decision. CHRISTIAN WILKINS DT // 6-4 // 295 Sueld, Conn. Sueld Academy Wilkins visited Penn State on June 20. We believe he had made a prior trip to University Park, but because he hasn't spoken with reporters from any media outlet about his recruit- ment, it's all but impossible to know which schools he's favoring or even which ones he's visited. One factor Penn State has working in its favor is his relationship with future Nittany Lion defensive back Jarvis Miller, who was the 3rst prospect to join the Class of 2015. Miller said he met Wilkins when the two were in seventh grade. "We've actually been real good friends ever since," he said a few days before Wilkins' June 20 visit. "We keep in contact as o6en as we can. I'm trying to get him to go to Penn State, but I don't bug him too much about it. I just want him to go wher- ever is best for him." Following that visit, Miller indicat- ed that Wilkins enjoyed his trip and that he thinks Penn State has an ex- cellent chance. But aside from that comment, there isn't much informa- tion about which direction, if any, Wilkins is leaning. ■

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