Four-star wide receiver Khalil Taylor is the latest blow head coach Matt Campbell took to his 2027 class. After leading his recruitment, Penn State football hit a major road block right at the end of his process as Nebraska redeemed itself. Taylor officially committed to the Cornhuskers on Monday.
The wideout becomes just another in-state recruit Campbell couldn't hang onto in this cycle. The Nittany Lions' new head coach knows just as well as anyone that missing out on another Pennsylvania native wasn't the way he wanted to kick off his tenure in Happy Valley.
At his introductory press conference in December, Campbell was asked about his high school recruiting and Transfer Portal philosophies. Before getting into anything related financially, he started his response off by talking about how important it is to attack Pennsylvania prospects hard.
"I think one of the great reasons being here is, boy, you're in the most fertile ground of the excellence of high school football in a six-to-eight-hour radius. Everything will start with building high school football and continuing to do a great job in this state and our surrounding states," Campbell said. "Nobody is going to attack more than us."
Unfortunately for Campbell, many schools did attack more than Penn State.
It wasn't just Big Ten programs that swept up the Nittany Lions' in-state targets. Georgia stole five-star Kemon Spell from them despite Campbell's valiant effort in reinstating Spell's interest in the team.
Other recruits from the state who de-committed from Penn State and remained as such were four-star safety Gabe Jenkins and three-star cornerback Zachary Gleason Jr.
Penn State has just three in-state commits, only one of who is a blue-chip prospect in this 2027 class. Four-star defensive lineman Stanley Montgomery, three-star offensive tackle Ryan Robbins, and three-star interior offensive lineman Jon Sassic stuck it out with the Nittany Lions.
Campbell didn't entirely whiff on that promise he made at his press conference in December. His 2027 class includes two four-star prospects from Ohio, five commits from New Jersey, one recruit a piece from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maryland. He hit the states around him, which is something he intended on doing, but missing out on Pennsylvania is a huge blunder that's hard to overlook.
Taylor's recruitment isn't officially over despite the commitment. There's still time before the early signing period kicks off for the Class of 2027, which includes an entire regular season of college football recruits can be swayed by.
However, this isn't the position the blue and white wanted to be in. They led Taylor's recruitment for months and the confidence in him choosing Penn State was significant enough to nix his remaining official visits. Nebraska's last ditch effort, though, completely threw a wrench in Campbell's plans and now it's the Nittany Lions who are scraping for wide receivers in this cycle.
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