Penn State football's Class of 2027 isn't littered with Pennsylvania-based recruits. Out of the 20-player class, only four are in-state. Though head coach Matt Campbell had to make up ground given the coaching change in Happy Valley that caused a lot of recruits to hesitate and take a step back midseason, he lost out on many blue-chip prospects from the class who had put the Nittany Lions back on their radar.
Excluding the four commits, Campbell extended 13 other offers to Class of 2027 recruits in Pennsylvania. In this group, seven committed to other programs, four don't have Penn State high on their lists, and the Nittany Lions will wait for two commitment decisions from four-star wide receiver Khalil Taylor and four-star edge rusher Abraham Sesay. They're also not projected to landed Sesay.
These recruitment misses can't be a pattern Campbell continues moving forward. Deep and talented classes from Pennsylvania must be a priority of Penn State's, and Campbell knows it too.
On Wednesday, he extended offers to two four-star recruits from the state: interior offensive lineman Nick Anderson and cornerback Kia Jones Jr.
Getting an early start on their recruitment as well as others is a good look for Campbell, showing his commitment and how much he values recruits in the Nittany Lions' backyard essentially. It's important that he's getting off on the right foot with these players, but that's only the beginning.
Four-star cornerback Deonte Flemings Jr. from Erie, Pa. already committed to Penn State. The commitments from Pennsylvania can't stop there.
Aside from Flemings Jr., Jones Jr., and Anderson, Campbell has also offered six other Pennsylvania-based recruits from the Class of 2028 so far: four-star edge rusher George Parkinson IV, four-star wide receiver Jaden Jones, three-star wide receiver Owen Johnson, three-star quarterback James Armstrong, three-star cornerback Mekhi Paschall, and unranked athlete Brian Culmer.
Eight of the nine total offers of this group are ranked in the top 18, per 247Sports. Parkinson IV and Flemings Jr. are the No. 2 and No. 3 prospects from the state, respectively. Jones Jr., Jones, and Armstrong are the other student-athletes Penn State offered who are in the top 10 (sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively). Johnson, Anderson, and Paschall are ranked 12th, 13th, and 18th, respectively, in the class from their state as well.
Campbell isn't allowing this class of in-state recruits slip by him, but he has to hang onto them throughout their recruitment. Parkinson IV is racking up the offers with 17 already, Jones Jr. has 21, Jones has 20, and Armstrong has 24. When talent runs deep in the state, the competition for the recruits will skyrocket. Campbell has to prove that his recruitment is strong enough to keep these prospects at home.
In addition to fighting off these other teams for highly touted players, the Nittany Lions can't afford to lose Flemings Jr. or any other Class of 2028 commit they end up landing. Campbell already knows what it feels like to be so close to a commitment just for it to fall through at the last minute after Georgia scooped up Class of 2027 five-star running back Kemon Spell. The cornerback already pledged his commitment, but that's not a guarantee he's still 100 percent set on Penn State.
There's a long ways to go until Class of 2028 early signing. The Nittany Lions have to stay on top of their own state this time around.
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