James Franklin has constructed a championship-caliber roster in Happy Valley. That roster led the Nittany Lions to the College Football Playoff semifinal last season and with many key contributors returning for 2025, Penn State will enter next year as one of the favorites to win it all. However, Franklin doesn’t consistently recruit at a championship level.
Penn State isn’t a true top-tier program as far as talent acquisition goes, but excellent development allows the Nittany Lions to consistently have one of the most talented rosters in the Big Ten and the country. However, Franklin occasionally sprinkles in an elite class, and currently ranking fourth-best in the country with nine committed recruits, 2026 could be one of them.
Most of Franklin’s classes over his 11 years at Penn State have ranked inside the top 20 in the country with just two cracking the top 10. Those classes were in 2018, a class headlined by Micah Parson, and 2022, which features Drew Allar, Nicholas Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Zane Durant and Dani Dennis-Sutton, who will all be back in blue and white next year, along with Abdul Carter who is off to the NFL.
After Allar leads his group of rising seniors and redshirt juniors through one final season together, the Nittany Lions will need a new influx of talent and they already have a few quality players committed in 2026.
Offensive tackle Kevin Brown is a fringe five-star ranked as the 27th best player in the class by 247Sports Composite rankings and both running back Messiah Mickens and quarterback Troy Huhn ranked just outside the top 100. Still, Franklin will need to land another blue-chip recruit or two to cement his class as one of the best and as the foundation of another championship-caliber roster at Penn State.
Here are a few options. These are players who rank either in or around the 247Sports Composite top 100 who have offers from Penn State and have shown real interest in Happy Valley.
1. Immanuel Iheanacho: OT, 5-star, Rockville, MD (No. 2 247Sports Composite)
Penn State is no stranger to landing five-star offensive lineman, they’ve had four across the past three recruiting classes (Malachi Goodman in 2025, Cooper Cousins in 2024, and J’Ven Williams and Alex Birchmeier in 2023), so it’s no surprise that the Nittany Lions are in the mix for the Rockville, Maryland native. Beyond just dominating in-state recruiting, Franklin enjoys asserting dominance over the school he used to coach for down in College Park. The Terrapins are also a top choice for Iheanacho, along with Oregon and Georgia.
2. Zion Elee, EDGE: 5-star, Baltimore, MD (No. 13 247Sports Composite)
Elee is the No. 2 edge rusher by 247Sports Composite rankings, but by 247’s own rankings, he’s No. 1 and the No. 2 overall player. Though he’s committed to Maryland, Elee visited with James Franklin and Penn State this week. He has the prototypical profile to thrive along Deion Barnes’s defensive line in Happy Valley with plenty of speed and length, and would likely be a multi-year starter replacing former five-star Dani Dennis-Sutton after the 2025 season.
3. Savion Hiter: RB, 5-star, Mineral, VA (No. 14 247Sports Composite)
Penn State has already added a commitment from four-star Messiah Mickens in its 2026 class, but that won’t turn the Nittany Lions off of the No. 1 running back in country. Hiter included Penn State in his top five with Michigan, Ohio State, Georgia, and Tennessee, but based on the indications from the fall, it will be an uphill battle for Franklin to fight.
Hiter was scheduled to visit Happy Valley for the Nittany Lion’s Week 10 matchup with Ohio State, but instead he detoured to Knoxville to watch Josh Heupel’s Volunteers host Kentucky.
4. Darius Gray: OL, 4-star, Richmond, VA (No. 31 247Sports Composite)
The 6-foot-3 285-pound offensive lineman is one of the most highly coveted in the country and is the No. 2 player in the state of Virginia, just behind Hiter. He has already scheduled his official visits for the Summer and will head to Happy Valley as his second-to-last stop from June 17-19. Gray will also visit Clemson, Tennessee, LSU, and South Carolina as he looks to decide where to play his college ball.
Franklin and offensive line coach Phil Trautwein have done an excellent job developing depth up front and that will be even more important without Allar, Singleton, and Allen in the backfield together.
5. Mack Sutter: TE, 4-star Dunlap, IL (No. 106 247Sports Composite)
James Franklin just took a trip out to Illinois to watch Sutter, who is listed as an athlete but is likely to play tight end at the next level, play basketball. He is very interested in Sutter, who could be the next great Penn State tight end. Luke Reynolds was a five-star in the 2024 class and Andrew Olesh just earned his fifth-star in 2025, maybe Sutter could rise up the rankings and make three straight seasons with a five-star tight end heading to Happy Valley.