Penn State Football: What do recruits value?

Penn State Football has had a lot of success in recruiting despite struggling on the field, bringing into question whether recruits look at wins and losses. 

Penn State Football has an 11-11 record the past two seasons, but it’s still been able to reel in some impressive recruiting classes over that time.

Now, this is a trend that is happening across College Football and not just with the Nittany Lions.

Look at Texas for example, they’re 12-10 over the past two seasons but had the No. 5 recruiting class in 2022. Tennessee is 10-13 the past two seasons and currently has the No. 9 recruiting class in 2023.

On the flip side, there’s Pitt who won 11 games and the ACC in 2021 but ended the 2022 cycle with the No. 74 ranked recruiting class. In 2023, Pitt’s class is doing better, but they have just one 4-star out of eight commits.

The truth is recruits rarely care about a couple bad seasons or one good season. Most of these recruits are proven winners in high school and are confident they can win in college. That mentality is why recruits may not look at records before they arrive on campus. If a team is struggling, they will come in with the mindset that they can turn things around.

Now, prolonged losing is a different story. In that case, coaches can get fired and the idea of few players turning things around becomes more of a pipe dream. That’s not a problem for Penn State though. Yes, they’ve had a rough stretch, but the four years prior they won 42 games and the program has a proud tradition of winning, with over 900 wins in its history.

Not every school wins, but every school recruits. So, for everyone not named Alabama- who can practically guarantee you a national championship ring- what do most schools sell recruits on?

Let’s dive into the factors outside of winning that schools use in recruiting.