Blue White Illustrated

T here were plenty of skeptics in Janu- ary 2014 when James Franklin, speaking at his introductory news conference, stated that Penn State was going to "dominate the state" in recruit- ing. Considering that Penn State would go on to recruit only three players from Pennsylvania in its Class of 2014 (ath- lete Troy Apke, o=ensive lineman Noah Beh and defensive back Daquan Worley) and that only four top-10 Pennsylvania players had signed with the Nittany Li- ons in their previous four recruiting classes (tight end Adam Breneman, re- ceiver Eugene Lewis and defensive ends Deion Barnes and Shawn Oakman), the doubts were understandable. But as with every other recruiting-related statement he has made since becoming Penn State's 16th head football coach, Franklin has proven he's a man of his word. By the time the fax machine stopped unspooling letters-of-intent on Feb. 4, Penn State found itself with seven of Rivals.com's top 10 Pennsylvania play- ers. The influx of local talent was the No. 1 reason why Franklin and his staff landed a consensus top-15 recruiting class. The Nittany Lions were able to sign the state's top two running backs: Saquon Barkley of Whitehall and Andre Robinson of Bishop McDevitt High in Harrisburg. Barkley was Rivals' No. 2 Pennsylvania player, while Robinson was ranked 10th. Penn State's other top-10 Pennsylva- nia players are: cornerback John Reid (No. 3) of St. Joseph's Prep in Philadel- phia, offensive lineman Ryan Bates (No. 4) of Archbishop Wood in Warminster, defensive lineman Ryan Buchholz (No. 5) of Great Valley High in Malvern, offensive lineman Sterling Jenkins (No. 8) of Baldwin High in Pittsburgh and defensive end Shareef Miller of George Washington High in Philadelphia. Many rate Reid as one of the top 10 cornerbacks in the country. Bates is Ri- vals' top-rated o=ensive lineman in Pennsylvania. Buchholz is the state's No. 1 defensive lineman, and Miller is its top-rated weakside defensive end. All told, Penn State's Class of 2015 fea- tures 11 of Pennsylvania's top 23 high school players, plus its leading juco player, o=ensive lineman Paris Palmer of Lackawanna College. The class contains the most in-state players in the past 15 years and the most top-10 Pennsylvania players in the past 20 years. In addition to owning their home state this year, Franklin and his sta= did an excellent job of recruiting for need, the lone exception being the defensive tackle spots. When recruiting analysts rate classes, they tend to focus on the number of highly regarded prospects who were signed without considering how those players

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