Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/465739
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