Sources: Penn State Football coach James Franklin on LSU’s Radar
Franklin finally has Penn State on the cusp, now isn’t the time to seek greener pastures
Penn State Football has proven through the first half of this season that last year’s 4-5 mark was an outlier, and that could be blamed on a number of factors due to covid-19.
Sitting at 5-1 this season Penn State Football has a path to their first ever College Football Playoff berth.
Despite not climbing that playoff hill just yet, Franklin has had major success or their last handful of years, getting to three New Year’s Six bowls since 2016.
With this success, Franklin has seemingly won over the board of directors as they gained approval this winter to spend on upgrades to the Lasch building, the main football facility. He was also able to go out and spend big on assistant coaches like offensive coordinator, Mike Yurcich, offensive line coach Phil Trautwein and defensive backs coach Anthony Poindexter.
Recruiting in college football is an arms race and Franklin knows it, so finally getting a new weight room and player lounges at the Lasch facility should go a long way in helping Franklin and company recruit, not that he wasn’t already doing it at a high level.
Over the last five years Penn State Football is averaging the 13th best class in the country according to 247 sports, including a 2018 class that was sixth best.
It appears though, 2022 may reach new nights for the program, currently ranked second in the nation after being number one for months.
A string of a few top five classes will have Penn State Football in the conversation with the Alabamas and Ohio States of the world.
Included in that 2022 class is the no. 1 ranked and five-star quarterback Drew Allar from Ohio. He was the first player Yurcich sought out and got to Happy Valley after joining the staff and is the type of quart back prospect Franklin has failed to land in the past, and could be the one to bring the program to new heights.
Franklin has already returned the Nittany Lions back to national prominence with a Big Ten title in 2016, multiple New Year’s Six bowls, a win over Ohio State.
But the trajectory of the program is still going up, now is the time to see out what he started, not head south.