Will Big Ten expansion help Penn State Football recruiting?

USC and UCLA are now members of the Big Ten conference effective in 2024, leading to West Coast exposure for the conference. 

A conference that originally ranged from Indiana to Minnesota in 1896 now stretches from New York City suburbs to the heart of Los Angeles.

The growth of the Big Ten is good for the conference and its members, but some worry about the effects on college football as a whole. While there are plenty of fair points as to why USC and UCLA heading to the Big Ten is bad for the sport, were going to look at some possible benefits for Penn State football.

The biggest benefit being recruiting.

Unlike some fellow Big Ten teams like Ohio State and Michigan, Penn State football rarely recruits the West Coast. Since James Franklin took over the program in 2014, Penn State has only landed two West Coast recruits. The first was quarterback Micah Bowens out of Nevada in the 2020 class and the second was Vega Ioane out of Washington in the 2022 cycle.

The West Coast is full of elite talent, especially in California. If Penn State wants to become an elite program, landing as much elite talent as possible is key.

The problem is, the Nittany Lions don’t have much, if any, of a recruiting footprint out there. That can change though.

We saw it change in Alabama just this past month as Penn State landed two 4-star commits from the state of Alabama. There’s reason to believe that Penn State hosting Auburn in the Whiteout game last September played a role in these recruits being exposed to Penn State.

Many southern recruits who tuned in to watch Auburn may have ended up impressed by the Nittany Lions at the end of the game.

So, will eventual matchups with UCLA and USC do the same?

Obviously, Penn State played USC in the Rose Bowl in 2017, right after winning the Big Ten championship. That resulted in no real recruiting bump for the Nittany Lions in California.

Now, Penn State lost, and it was a neutral site game, so it’s not that hard to see why it brough no recruiting bump. However, if Penn State was to host USC for the Whiteout game and come out with a huge victory, it may be a different story.

Playing out in California and hosting the California teams will help recruits become more familiar with the Penn State football program.  The Nittany Lions will have to win and get back to where they were in 2016-17 to fully maximize this opportunity.

We just saw how effective a Penn State official visit can be, so if some of these West Coast recruits at least become interested enough in Penn State to take an official visit, anything is possible.