5 Things Penn State Football must do to close recruiting gap on Ohio State

4. Produce NFL Talent

Showing high school players you can help them fulfill their dream of playing in the NFL goes a long way in landing top recruits.

Penn State Football has done well in the NFL under Franklin. Chris Godwin was a third-round pick, now set to get a monster contract in free agency. Saquon Barkley was the second pick in the draft and is now one of the bigger names in football.

Between Parsons and Pat Freiermuth, Penn State could be looking at multiple first round picks this Spring. That will help recruiting.

Since his arrival, 26 Nittany Lions have been drafted under Franklin’s watch. Dwight Galt leads one of the nation’s best strength and conditioning programs that has played a role in this number.

Despite this, Barkley is the only first rounder.

In the same amount of time, Ohio State has had 14 first round picks. Now, a few have flamed out, but just getting drafted in the first round sets you up financially for a large part of your life.

Penn State has done well with guys that weren’t top recruits. Carl Nassib was a walk on that Penn State turned into a third rounder, and Troy Apke was someone not a lot of people outside of Penn State knew about, and he went in the fourth.

The way Penn State can close this gap is to do the things mentioned in the prior slides, as it helps with the development aspect of college football as well.