James Franklin isn’t the only big-name head coach after the Penn State recruiting class

Penn State’s recruiting class has been under siege since the day the program fired James Franklin in October. Now, with Franklin in place at Virginia Tech and already flipping Nittany Lion recruits, the program is helpless to hold the class together. Franklin, though, isn’t the only threat. 

On Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Franklin swayed four-star running back Messiah Mickens to Blacksburg, Bill Belichick landed a commitment from three-star former Penn State commit Julian Peterson. 

Peterson is the second former Nittany Lion recruit to flip to Chapel Hill, joining four-star defensive back David Davis. Peterson is the 38th commit in a loaded UNC recruiting class that ranks No. 17 in the country. 

As Peterson was already de-committed from Penn State, the Nittany Lions are still 10 strong in the 2026 recruiting class, but that number will continue to dwindle, especially after four-star linebacker Terry Wiggins’ weekend visit to Boulder. 

Bill Belichick and Coach Prime both in the mix for Penn State recruits

According to 247Sports Composite, Wiggins is the second-highest-ranked player remaining in the Penn State 2026 class, trailing four-star safety Matt Sieg. Wiggins, 6-foot-3, 210-pound Coatesville, PA, native, is a top 200 recruit in the country and a top 10 player in the state. 

Since reopening his recruitment, Wiggins has taken official visits to West Virginia, North Carolina, and Colorado. So Deion Sanders and Belichick may have to battle it out for the outside linebacker, though he reportedly has another visit scheduled for this weekend. 

Wiggins wasn’t the only Penn State recruit who made the trip to Colorado for the Buffaloes' 42-17 loss to Arizona State. He was joined by three-star Penn State defensive back commit Amauri Polydor. The Baltimore product is on flip watch after the visit, as are nearly all of Penn State’s remaining commits. 

While Wiggins and Polydor were in Boulder, Sieg, Mathiu Lamah, Marlen Bright, Pierce Petersohn, and Benjamin Eziuka were all in Blacksburg with Franklin. That leaves four-star edge rusher Jackson Ford and four-star edge rusher Tyson Harley as the two recruits least likely to flip before the early signing period opens on December 3.