Khalil Taylor spurning Penn State brings up Matt Campbell questions no one was ready for

Matt Campbell got off to a red-hot start building his first full recruiting class at Penn State. At one point, with what was then one of the biggest classes in the country, the Nittany Lions ranked in the top five. However, things haven’t trended in quite as positive a direction since. 

With 22 commits in place, after a few notable flips, Penn State’s class ranked No. 19 by Rivals Industry Rankings, one spot behind James Franklin’s Virginia Tech Hokies, and Campbell’s chance to leapfrog his predecessor on Monday just passed him by. 

For much of the offseason, four-star wide receiver Khalil Taylor has loomed as the No. 1 priority for Penn State’s 2027 class. Not only is he a top-100 player in the country, but the Pine Richland High School product plays a position of major need in the program and is the No. 4 player in the state. Yet, for all Campbell's efforts, the former Penn State commit chose Matt Rhule on Monday, committing to the Nebraska Cornhuskers over the Nittany Lions. 

Will Matt Campbell ever be an elite recruiter?

Matt Campbell has never had a reputation as a top recruiter. That’s largely because he’s never been at a top program. Now, he has the resources he couldn’t access at Iowa State, and though he’s landed eight four-stars in the 2027 class, he has just one of the top 20 recruits in Pennsylvania (No. 6 Stanley Montgomery) and has struggled to close the deal with many of his top targets. 

There have been significant wins over big-time programs. Campbell yanked Elijah Guertin away from new Florida head coach Jon Sumrall, who has established himself as an elite recruiter, and beat out Miami and Clemson, among others, for four-star safety Kei’Shjuan Telfair. However, Kirby Smart pulled in-state five-star running back Kemon Spell away to Georgia, Sumrall did the same with in-state five-star offensive tackle Maxwell Hiller, and James Franklin forced Penn State to pivot from four-star QB Peter Bourque to three-star Will Wood. 

He’s proven to excel and early identification of underrated prospects like David Tarawallie, who by 247Sports, is Penn State’s top commit after shooting up from unranked to a top-100 player. Plus, he did well in the transfer portal and has a reputation for development. Still, it’s becoming hard not to ask if Campbell is really cut out for top-notch recruiting battles like this one, where Matt Rhule got the best of him. 

Taylor was a player Penn State desperately needed. He’s a dynamic talent who, despite his size at 5-foot-11, has the makings of a high-volume No. 1 target in a Power Conference, something Penn State hasn’t had at the wide receiver position in years. Missing on him stings, even if there’s still a chance to flip him back before signing day. 

Even if he doesn’t grow into an elite recruiter, Campbell can still win big

Campbell is a developmentally-minded coach. Ideally, though, he’s developing four and five-star talent into even better players now that he’s at Penn State instead of turning three and zero-stars into a Big 12 contender in Ames. That growth may come, and when it comes to recruiting Pennsylvania, it absolutely has to for him to have success. 

Yet, if Campbell never churns out top-10 classes and wins these types of battles with regularity, he can still contend for Big Ten titles and College Football Playoff spots. Curt Cignetti won it all with a team built almost entirely through the transfer portal, so in modern college football, there’s more than one path to the top. 

Campbell’s path likely won’t be through the recruiting trail, and that’s fine, as long as he wins his way. Because the real question Penn State fans don’t want to be asking in a few years is “why did we ever fire James Franklin?” and we’re a long way from that.

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