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T H E C L A S S O F 2 0 1 8 >> replacement, and he was able to hold to- gether O'Brien's class while adding four-star prospects Koa Farmer and Saeed Blacknall, as well as one of the team's all-time great sleepers in McSor- ley. The 25-member Class of 2014 fin- ished 24th in Rivals' team rankings. The excitement was still there in year two. The new coaching staff had gone 7- 6 in its debut season, but some transi- tional difficulties were to be expected, especially with the Lions still coping with the effects of the NCAA sanctions. So most people were willing to be pa- tient, and Penn State signed 11 four-star prospects, including future stars Saquon Barkley, Juwan Johnson, Ryan Buchholz and Ryan Bates, in assembling the na- tion's 15th-ranked class. That patience started to ebb the fol- lowing year. The Lions went 7-6 again, ending their season with four consecu- tive losses. Their fade cost offensive co- ordinator John Donovan his job, and it evidently cost the team a few recruits, as it dipped to 21st in Rivals' final rankings after losing six verbally committed prospects in the final two months of the recruiting cycle. But on the heels of its bounce-back season in 2016, Penn State had little trouble holding together its next class, signing 21 players, including 11 players with four stars or more, and ranking 12th overall. And earlier this month, they put the finishing touches on one of the strongest classes in school history. If you average those final Rivals rank- ings together, Penn State has placed 15th nationally since Franklin took over the program. That's a huge uptick in the Nittany Lions' recruiting performance. Of course, it would be entirely unfair to compare Franklin's classes to O'Brien's; the Sandusky scandal and the NCAA sanctions that followed resulted in classes that ranked 51st (2012) and 43rd (2013). But it would be fair to compare Franklin's five-year performance to the last five years of the Paterno era. From 2007 to 2011, Penn State's classes ranked 24th, 43rd, 24th, 12th and 35th. Average those numbers out, and the Lions' typical finish was 28th. Penn State had its share of impedi- ments during those years. Its coaching staff was older than most, and the re- cruiting burden fell disproportionately on a handful of staffers, such as Tom Bradley, Larry Johnson and Mike Mc- Queary. Joe Paterno was no longer the road warrior he had been earlier in his career when he would charm parents and woo recruits over plates of home- made spaghetti. The years and miles had taken their toll. But the biggest impediment was the lingering uncertainty over the direction of the program. The Nittany Lions were asking prospects to buy into a future that might well include a coaching change, no matter how the team fared on the field. A surprising number of great players were willing to do just that; Paterno's last five classes included the likes of Stefen Wisniewski, Devon Still, Michael Mauti, Gerald Hodges, Silas Redd and Mike Hull. The very last class of Paterno's career included Allen Robinson, Adrian Amos and Anthony Zettel. But while there were some NFL- caliber players in those classes, there weren't enough of them. Penn State wasn't going to compete at the level to which it had always aspired under Pa- terno while signing classes that ranked in the 30s and 40s. Even the teens were probably too low. Which brings us back to Franklin. Four years into his Penn State career, he has gotten the Nittany Lions to the point where prospects can feel comfortable with the stability of the program – and not just with its leadership but with its on-field aspirations. That was the miss- ing piece of the puzzle those first few years. It was clear from the start that Franklin and his staff were not going to get outhustled by anyone. But by neces- sity, their pitch to prospects veered into the hypothetical. While Meyer was sell- ing a history of title contention at Ohio State, Franklin was selling potential. That's not the case anymore. The Lions have gone 22-5 over the past two seasons with a Big Ten championship and two major bowl appearances. They're back. And, thanks to classes like the one that just signed, they're looking more and more like they're built to last. ■ NEWEST LION Parsons be- came the third Rivals.com five-star prospect to sign with Penn State in the past two years when he rejoined the Nittany Lions' class in De- cember. Photo cour- tesy of Par- sons family

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