Penn State football head coach Matt Campbell took an interesting approach to his first official visit season leading the Nittany Lions. Over the second weekend, which was the first he had recruits on campus during, 26 prospects were in Happy Valley.
The outcome of this unorthodox approach is still unfolding, but it's not going in the direction Campbell had hoped. Seven recruits visiting were uncommitted and five remain so.
Starting with the good news, Penn State did land two of those seven: three-star safety Caleb Cooper and unranked long snapper Clayton Powell.
While not dismissing those two commitments Campbell got out of the weekend, it still doesn't deem the weekend a success.
Four-star wide receivers Khalil Taylor and Deshawn Hall are prime targets still for the Nittany Lions. With four-star Jamir Dean's commitment shaky as Georgia entered the picture as a flip contender, another commit coming out of the weekend would've been ideal for Campbell.
However, he had to settle for expert predictions. It's not worst case scenario, but predictions only go so far. Campbell needs commitments.
Hall's recruitment is a little messier than Taylor's. With three SEC schools also in the mix and a late June commitment date, predictions are at least a good way to gauge if Penn State can compete with Tennessee, Alabama, and Auburn. It seems like it can.
For Taylor, on the other hand, there's no sound reason why Campbell couldn't land him after his official visit. There aren't any programs truly in contention for his commitment, so going empty-handed is a bit questionable. Expert predictions in Taylor's case aren't enough.
That leaves the bad news that resulted from the weekend.
The Nittany Lions are at risk of losing their second committed cornerback.
Three-star Zachary Gleason Jr. is projected to flip his commitment to West Virginia very soon. He was one of the first recruits who committed to Penn State back in March and is one of the first to go as well.
The culture and relationships Campbell has prioritized in this recruitment cycle are important, absolutely. However, it's not a strong enough foundation to retain his commits. Even hosting nearly all committed prospects over the weekend was a way to build bonds between players and the staff, but that wasn't enough to keep all of them committed.
In fact, the Nittany Lions already lost one of them. Three-star cornerback Semajay Robinson was the first that flipped, committing to Virginia. It happened almost immediately after the official visit weekend despite Robinson teasing a successful weekend in Happy Valley.
All in all so far, Campbell's approach didn't yield the results he wanted. Losing two cornerbacks is huge, even if he has another one scheduled to visit this upcoming weekend, and landing a safety and long snapper isn't enough. If Taylor or Hall officially committed a day or two after the weekend, that would have deemed the weekend much more of a success.
Penn State's Class of 2027 now ranks No. 7 overall in the country, according to 247Sports, with 21 verbal commits.
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