The Nittany Lions sign a class
with the potential to help
assure that their recent
on-field surge was no mirage
T H E C L A S S O F 2 0 1 8 >>
KEEPING
IT REAL
year ago, James Franklin was asked how
Penn State's sudden transformation from
unranked Big Ten middleweight to con-
ference champion had impacted its recruiting ef-
forts. The coaching staff had just finished
assembling the Nittany Lions' most highly rated
class since the waning days of the Paterno era, an
effort that included the team's first five-star sign-
ing since Christian Hackenberg, along with 10
four-star signings.
Had the Lions' on-field surge played a role in
that success? Indeed it had, Franklin said. But
only to a point. The Class of 2017, like all recruit-
ing classes, had been long in the making – so long
that most of its members had bought into the
staff's upbeat message even before the team's per-
formance had begun to make all that happy talk
seem so much more tangible. The real impact of
their Big Ten title and Rose Bowl appearance,
Franklin said, would be on future classes, as the
Lions' rise was already beginning to garner the at-
tention of prospects who might not have been all
that interested previously.
"These guys were sitting in their living rooms
and at their high schools watching Penn State be
really successful and play an exciting brand of
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