Blue White Illustrated

Franklin's introduction: sign the best prospects in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and northern Virginia, exert strength against regional competition, win football games. But, of course, nothing is that simple. Upon taking the position as head coach, Franklin almost immediately de- viated from his own mantra by adding nine verbal commitments to the Class of 2014, none of whom played high school football in Pennsylvania. Instead, Franklin went to Illinois, Georgia, Flori- da, Alabama and even California to round out a class that needed desperate- ly to be ;lled. Given less than four weeks to solidify the class, Franklin's only vi- able option was to take advantage of re- lationships he had already established with recruits, parents and coaches. But soon a>er that class signed its let- ters, Franklin and his sta< pivoted. One a>er another, Class of 2015 prospects committed to the Nittany Li- ons from familiar spots, including the Philadelphia region, Allentown, Harris- burg, metro New York, South Jersey and the Baltimore-Washington corridor. Loading up on Rivals.com three- and four-star prospects, Franklin and the Nittany Lions quickly secured verbal commitments at positions of need, land- ing some of the highest-rated players in the country, all within the footprint. Jackpot. By the time signing day arrived, Franklin found himself with the No. 15 class in the nation and the No. 2 class in the Big Ten, and those rankings were largely predicated on his success in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic region. Penn State landed seven of Pennsylva- T H E C L A S S O F 2 0 1 5 How were you able to turn things around in Pennsylvania? What were some of the keys to being able to get some of these kids who weren't going to Penn State the past few years? If you look at our sta<, I'm from Penn- sylvania, Bob Shoop is from Oakmont, Pa., Brent Pry is from Altoona, John Donovan is from New Jersey and has re- cruited the area for a long time. Herb Hand is from New York. Being able to bring Terry Smith back home had a huge impact in western Pa., because if you study Penn State in the last ;ve, 10 years, most of the western Pa. kids were going to West Virginia and going to Ohio State and going to Pitt. So I think that was signi;cant. I think Terry was a ma- jor factor in that. I don't think it's anything di

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