Penn State Football continues to fall further behind the best of the best in terms of facilities
By Nick Kreiser
While Penn State Football churns out another underwhelming season, the favorite to win the National Championship and top ranked Georgia Bulldogs continue to impress off the field too.
When James Franklin vowed to lift Penn State Football from being a “great” program to an “elite” one nearly four years ago, the Nittany Lions head coach wasn’t just talking about what happens on Saturdays.
Friday was the latest example of just how far behind Penn State Football has fallen from the nation’s premier college football programs.
The Georgia social media team released this video on twitter of the school’s football facilities, and might I say, it’s rather impressive;
https://twitter.com/GeorgiaFootball/status/1456290148111437827?s=20
Georgia has spent a lot of time and money upgrading their football facilities since 2017, $175 million to be exact, and it has paid off. This is the Bulldogs’ national recruiting class rankings each season, beginning in 2017.
- 2017 – 3rd
- 2018 – 1st
- 2019 – 2nd
- 2020 – 1st
- 2021 – 4th
- 2022 – 1st
Pretty impressive, right?
In that time frame, the Bulldogs have brought in 23, 5-star recruits (not including 2022 commits), while the Nittany Lions have brought in just 4 recruits of the 5-star status.
Penn State Football has facilities far behind not only Georgia, but many other top teams in the country including Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, and many others.
Since the beginning of James Franklin’s tenure in 2014, the Nittany Lions have just one top-10 recruiting class (6th in 2018). Their average recruiting class ranking in that time frame is about 15-16th nationally. So, Penn State Football has certainly never had a top 5 roster under James Franklin, and maybe only once or twice have they had a top 10 roster (2017 and 2019 maybe?)
Often times, fans may look at the star players on the roster, or certain outstanding position groups (such as the secondary this season), and assume that Penn State Football has one of the best rosters in the country, but that’s not necessarily the case.
Another great example is the 2017 season, when the Nittany Lions were loaded at the skill positions on offense with names such as Saquon Barkley, Mike Gesicki, and Trace McSorley. However, they had a mediocre offensive line that struggled to block for Barkley with a lead late in games to run the ball and pick up first downs to put the game away.
The defense that season also struggled to get stops late in games, only a few players from that defense still play on Sundays, and of the ones that do, one of them is now a fullback (Jason Cabinda).
You see, you’re only as strong as your weakest link. So while the Nittany Lions top 10-15 players of their 22 starters may be right up there with some of the best teams in the country, those last 7-12 players are far behind, including the backups which provide depth in the event of injuries.
Depth also provides competition for spots/playing time, forcing players to push each other, allowing each one to get better every single day in fear of missing out on playing time.
Another thing depth does is provides a better and more talented scout team for your starters to go against in practice all week, making the jump to gameday competition not so big.
So, top to bottom, meaning every single position and their backups, Penn State Football does not have as talented of rosters as some people think they do on a yearly basis.
Now, say what you want about James Franklin, and even if you want him gone, Penn State will struggle to find an elite level coach to replace him without adequate facilities to attract top recruits, and if they do, they may not be able to retain him for long if better opportunities come their way.
However, I believe that if Franklin is able to bring in back to back top-10 recruiting classes, people might be surprised at the product on the field once each of those classes has many of their players on the field at the same time.
Regardless of who is at the helm, the Penn State Football facilities need improvements.
Josh Pate, who is widely respected amongst the college football community, pointed out a few weeks back that while Penn State’s gameday atmosphere in State College is among the best of the best, that is only 7 days out of the entire year.
What about the other 300+ days out of the year that the student-athletes are on campus?
Not everyone is thrilled about the cold and snowy weather in central Pennsylvania, as well as being surrounded by next to nothing in State College. While the university can’t control the weather, they can control the facilities that the players have access to on a cold and snowy afternoon in the middle of February.
While it may seem silly that things like this really matter that much, when every team that a recruit is looking at wins a lot of games and is regularly in the top 25, as well as offering a great gameday atmosphere with passionate fans, it’s the little things that could end up making the difference.
Penn State Football is far behind many of the other top schools in the country in terms of amenities and facilities away from the field and away from gamedays, and it is translating and beginning to show itself on the field and on gamedays.