The early signing period for the 2026 football recruiting class is just two days away, and Penn State still doesn’t have a head coach in place. With nobody to lock in the Nittany Lions’ recruits, James Franklin and his longtime general manager, Andy Frank, continue to pluck them away to Virginia Tech.
The latest former Penn State commit to join the Hokies is four-star quarterback Troy Huhn. The 6-foot-4, San Marcos, California product is the 21st-ranked QB in the 2026 class according to 247Sports Composite.
BREAKING: Four-Star QB Troy Huhn has Committed to Virginia Tech, he tells me for @rivals⁰⁰The 6’4 215 QB was previously committed to Penn State⁰⁰“Let it all work out, GO HOKIES!”⁰⁰https://t.co/STgAAAUHXH pic.twitter.com/3oR7hafSOx
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 1, 2025
4-star QB Troy Huhn lands in Blacksburg with James Franklin
At one point in the summer, Penn State held commitments from two four-star quarterbacks in the 2026 class, Huhn and Peyton Falzone. Falzone flipped to Auburn, and at least for now, is still committed to the Tigers as they transition from Hugh Freeze to former USF head coach Alex Golesh.
Huhn de-committed after Franklin was fired and has long been expected to join him at Virginia Tech. He is one of five former Penn State commits now in Franklin’s 2026 VT class, which ranks 66th in the country. However, that class will likely continue to grow as Franklin lands more commitments. He also flipped three-star linebacker Mathieu Lamah from Penn State on Monday.
As for Penn State, the pressure is on to get a head coach in place. However, the latest rumbles indicate that athletic director Pat Kraft has his sights set on BYU head coach Kalani Sitake. Sitake, a BYU alum, is coaching the Cougars in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday, and if he wins, he will have the College Football Playoff in front of him.
While Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss high and dry to take the job at LSU, it’s hard to imagine Sitake abandoning the school he played for and amid their most successful season in years.
Signing Day is not the hard deadline to get a head coach in place that it used to be. In recent years, plenty of coaches have been hired late into December, or in some cases in January, and still built competent rosters through the transfer portal. Still, if the Nittany Lions don’t have a coach in place this week, a withered recruiting class may disappear entirely, putting that much more pressure on the next staff to bring in a massive transfer portal haul.