Penn State Sports Magazine
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T H E C L A S S O F 2 0 1 7 >> The group that was signed, after a tireless year, and often longer, of recruit- ing by Franklin and his staff is unbalanced in a good way with 12 defensive players and nine on offense. Penn State needed numbers at corner and line- backer, not running back and tight end, and the scholarships spent at each spot reflect as much. Then, there's the mixture of immediate impact players along with the signees who will need time to develop. Too top-heavy, like the Lions had to be in the sanction years, can lead to dangerous roster imbalance that leads to too few veteran players one year and too few graduating seniors in another. Penn State has certainly experienced that, but this class is the fourth in a row that is helping to get the seesaw as close to an even plane as is possible in college football roster building. GREG PICKEL PENNLIVE.COM No way could Penn State head coach James Franklin estimate the number of miles he's traveled in recent weeks recruiting. Most of the time he proba- bly couldn't even say for sure what hotel he was at. "I know that sounds, like, funny," Franklin said Wednesday afternoon after his National Signing Day duties were done. "I wake up in the middle of the night. The night before, the bathroom was on this side of the bed, and the next night it's a closet. That's not an exaggeration. Half the time I didn't know where I was going. I just get on the plane, I get off, and start talking about Penn State." Hectic is an un- derstatement, but the chaotic final recruiting period, whether Franklin and his staff were shoring up longtime commits or convincing others to join the Nittany Lions, was worth it. JOHN McGONIGAL CENTRE DAILY TIMES What a difference a year made for the Nittany Lions. This past offseason, after a second straight 7-6 finish in 2015, Penn State coach James Franklin and athletic director Sandy Barbour spoke out against negative recruiting tactics being used against the Nittany Lions. After winning a Big Ten title and playing in the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual this season, they signed a top-20 class that ranked behind only Ohio State and Michigan in the Big Ten. The impressive class includes [ESPN] No. 3 pocket passer Sean Clifford, No. 5 guard C.J. Thorpe and No. 10 cornerback Lamont Wade. Defensive tackle Fred Hansard, a one-time Florida commitment, might be able to help right away. MARK SCHLABACH ESPN.COM Put Penn State's four new offensive line recruits in a room, tell them one comes out with a scholarship, and, well, assistant coach Josh Gattis isn't sure what happens next. "I'm not sure if any of them would walk out," Gattis, Penn State's offensive recruiting coordinator, said Wednesday. "They might just tear each other up. Those guys got a mean streak." MARK WOGENRICH THE (ALLENTOWN) MORNING CALL As good as Wade is, before anything else, he is a competitor. It's that com- petitive edge that's going to allow him to challenge for starter's minutes early in his college career. Penn State signed a ball hawk, someone who is ready to make a play every down. BLEACHERREPORT.COM W H A T T H E Y ' R E S A Y I N G under the shadow of the NCAA's sanc- tions, so the rankings were skewed by PSU's unprecedented circumstances. But Franklin was still dealing with the fallout from the scandal when he ar- rived, as well as the roster shortcomings that resulted, and his first four classes have ranked 19th on average. Subtract his first class, which was a mix of players who had been recruited by Bill O'Brien and a handful of late additions that Franklin had landed after taking the job in January 2014, and that average rises to 16th. The Lions' fourth-year coach said he was proud of those numbers. "We still have a lot of work to do," he said, "but we've made really good progress." That progress may well continue next year. As of mid-February, the Nittany Lions had already lined up 11 commit- ments for the Class of 2018, including a five-star player and six four-star play- ers. The class is garnering high praise, and while Franklin dismissed the first batch of early evaluations, insisting that "recruiting rankings right now are ridiculous," they do offer evidence that Penn State is on the right track. Its efforts will continue in the months and years ahead, and the Class of 2017 will be a key component of whatever success the program enjoys. When he talked to his newest players on signing day, Franklin told them to relish the mo- ment but also to be mindful of what lies ahead. "They think they've worked hard up to this point," he said. "But the real work starts tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. I want them to enjoy tonight and kind of savor it. We'll do the same thing as a coaching staff. Tonight we're going to my house. Anybody who lives in Port Matilda, I apologize. We're going to get after it pretty good tonight and then give the coaches a long weekend off. "But we'll have a staff meeting Mon- day morning at 7 a.m. and it's back at it." For all of their reccent success, the Nittany Lions are still acutely aware of the caliber of the competition. It's a good kind of pressure, though, the kind that turns stones into diamonds. ■