James Franklin strikes 1st blow to Penn State’s recruiting class and it’s a huge one

Penn State’s 2026 class has been picked through since athletic director Pat Kraft fired James Franklin back in October, and now Franklin is circling back for what’s left. The Nittany Lions’ former head coach, now installed at Virginia Tech, hosted multiple Penn State commits at Lane Stadium for Virginia Tech’s Week 13 loss to Miami, and on Tuesday night, he landed his first commitment. 

The flip came from four-star running back Messiah Mickens, a Harrisburg, PA, native. According to 247Sports Composite Rankings, Mickens was the highest-rated player still in Penn State’s 2026 class, and losing him is a massive blow for the program and whoever takes over in Happy Valley. 

4-star RB Messiah Mickens flips from Penn State to Virginia Tech

Mickens, a high school teammate of four-star linebacker Kevin Brown, who recently flipped from Penn State to West Virginia, is immediately the highest-ranked player in Virginia Tech’s nine-player class. He is the 209th-ranked recruit nationally, the 14th-best running back in the country, and the eighth-ranked prospect in Pennsylvania. 

At 5-foot-10, 210 pounds, Mickens will arrive on campus in Blacksburg ready to play at the Power 4 level. Along with Virginia Tech, he recently took official visits to Indiana and Oklahoma. 

Mickens almost certainly won’t be the last player who was formerly committed to Franklin who will opt to join him in Blacksburg. The newly installed head coach desperately needs to infuse his program with talent, and he has a significant head start on every other coach hired in this cycle, settling in with enough time before the early signing period. 

Among those who visited Virginia Tech over the weekend was four-star safety Matt Sieg, now Penn State’s top-ranked player in the class. 

For all the players currently on Penn State’s roster advocating for interim head coach Terry Smith to land the job full-time, that hasn’t seemed to entice the recruit class, which continues to splinter. Penn State is down to just 10 commits in the 2026 class, and none in 2027. Nearly all of the remaining commits have reopened their recruiting, and Sieg, four-star tight end Pierce Petersohn, and plenty of others look fully intent on flipping once they decide on their new destination. 

Whether Smith keeps the job or Kraft goes with an outside hire (which he should do), the next head coach of the Nittany Lions will need to take a massive transfer portal haul to be competitive in the Big Ten next season.