Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/787374
play an exciting brand of football.
"I do think it helped us a little bit. La-
mont Wade, for example, I think it
helped us a little bit with Lamont. I felt
like we were in really good shape with
his family. … His dad realized that Lam-
ont wanted to see that. Lamont is a guy
who had been going through this re-
cruiting process for a long time and
wanted to see it all. I think it probably
had a little bit of an effect on him."
At the end of signing day, Penn State's
class was rated 12th nationally by Ri-
vals.com, the team's best finish in
Franklin's three years at Penn State.
Having bolstered their offensive line,
their linebacker corps and their second-
ary, among other areas, the Nittany
Lions were rated third in the Big Ten be-
hind Ohio State (No. 2 nationally) and
Michigan (No. 4).
Franklin's list of thank yous on signing
day was extensive. It included everyone
from his coaching staff to the athletic
administration to the downtown mer-
chants and hospitality professionals to
the executives in Old Main. He was
probably the only Football Bowl Subdi-
vision coach to thank his physical plant.
"It's amazing how many people talk to
me about how beautiful the campus is,
how clean the campus is," he said.
"That's OPP. That's all the people that
work on campus, cleaning things up,
shoveling sidewalks, picking up trash."
In doling out all that praise, he was
quick to note that the uptick in the
Lions' recruiting has been going on for
several years. In the three years before he
arrived, Penn State's average finish in
the Rivals.com rankings was 44th. Two
of those three classes were assembled
T H E B I G P I C T U R E
group chat going. They all became really
good friends. That recruiting weekend we
had a couple weekends ago, it's not a re-
cruiting weekend, it's a celebration. They
come. They're all buddies. They're all
friends. They just enjoy themselves.
Their parents know each other. The play-
ers know each other, the coaches, and our
families. It's just kind of a weekend to
celebrate and answer any last questions
they may have and go through everything
for the third or fourth time in detail.
But it's special. Those guys who jumped
onboard, they were very active. It's one
thing for it to come from an area recruit-
ing coach. It's another thing for it to come
from a position coach or head coach. It's a
completely di=erent thing when these
guys are out recruiting each other.
To be honest with you, it's not just
telling guys to come here. It's also
telling us, "Hey, Coach, I don't know if
this is a guy I necessarily want to play
with." Our current players telling us
that, recruits telling us that, "Coach,
he's not a great