James Franklin was always a fast starter on the recruiting trail, and now Matt Campbell has picked up where his predecessor left off. Following four-star running back Aiden Gibson’s commitment on Tuesday, the Nittany Lions have the seventh-ranked class in the country with 16 recruits in the fold.
While things are trending in a positive direction, the official visit season this spring will determine whether or not Campbell can parlay this strong start into an elite class and the foundation of a national championship contender in Happy Valley. Pulling that off might require landing these three recruits.
Layton Von Brandt was one of Franklin’s earliest commits in the 2027 class. Now, he’s on Campbell’s radar with Notre Dame, Florida, and Auburn also in his final four. It would be massive for Penn State to bring him back in the fold, and just as important to keep him away from Notre Dame, which is the clear leader heading into the official visit season.
Notre Dame has already pried top-100 recruit and top-10 offensive tackle James Halter out of Pennsylvania, and Marcus Freeman has consistently been a thorn in Penn State’s side. Adding offensive line talent is crucial to building a sustainable contender in Happy Valley, but punching back against the Fighting Irish may be even more important. Pulling an upset with Von Brandt would kill two bird with one stone.
The Oregon loss began to fracture the program, and two games later, the Northwestern loss became the death knell for Franklin. In reality, though, what was happening off the field was almost as important as what was happening on it.
The crop of talent coming out of Pennsylvania in the 2026 high school class could be generational, and as Penn State’s season was falling apart, those recruits were slipping through his fingers. Most waited until after he was fired to de-commit, but Kemon Spell, who has since committed to Georgia, Khalil Taylor, Gabe Jenkins, and the rest of the early commits were all trending towards de-commitment.
This year’s in-state class is one that Campbell and Hoodjer need to capitalize on. Maxwell Hiller is committed to Florida and Spell to Georgia, so the high-end upside is somewhat limited, but there are still two current uncommitted top-100 recruits, and as the fourth-ranked player in the state, Taylor is one of them.
Taylor’s commitment would be massive, if for no other reason than to send a message that Campbell is starting to lock down the state. But more than that, wide receiver is still a huge need for this program, and Taylor is the type of dynamic playmaker who could see the field early in his career.
Throughout much of this spring recruiting season, it has appeared as though Penn State values three-star Will Wood as highly, if not more highly, than 4-star QB Peter Bourque. While in many cases it would be reasonable to criticize a head coach for prioritizing the 29th-ranked QB in the class over the seventh-ranked QB, the recruiting industry often takes its cues from coaching staff evaluations, and Campbell’s staff has a pretty strong track record with Brock Purdy and Rocco Becht.
On Tuesday, Rivals Adam Gorney placed a prediction for Penn State to land Bourque, who was originally a James Franklin target and a one-time Michigan commit before that coaching staff turned over as well. However, he began to walk that back almost immediately. Whichever QB Campbell and his general manager, Derek Hoodjer, have settled on, they can’t afford to miss out.
This year, the Nittany Lions have quite a precarious situation in the QB room behind Rocco Becht. Alex Manske, an Iowa State transfer who missed the entire spring with an injury, will seemingly battle DIII transfer Connor Barry for the QB2 job. Manske may be the heir-apparent, but that’s not a certainty, and even if he is, Penn State needs another QB of the future.
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