In many ways, Matt Campbell's resume was similar to James Franklin’s when the latter took over in Happy Valley. While Campbell had considerably more head coaching experience, the case for hiring both was that they had succeeded at an under-resourced program that was not historically successful.
The difference, though, was that James Franklin had a well-established reputation as a recruiter while Campbell was best known for developing under-recruited three-stars into NFL talents. Really, the biggest lingering question surrounding Campbell’s ability to succeed in Happy Valley was about his high-level recruiting, as he dove headfirst into the unfamiliar four and five-star waters.
Slowly but surely, he’s quieting those doubts.
Matt Campbell off to a strong recruiting start with Stanley Montgomery commitment
On April 30, Matt Campbell secured his 13th commitment for Penn State’s 2027 class with four-star defensive lineman Stanley Montgomery. The Philadelphia native is the 120th-ranked player in the country according to 247Sports Composite, and the seventh-ranked recruit in Pennsylvania.
Crucially, Montgomery is also the second-highest-rated player in Penn State’s class and the fourth four-star recruit to commit to the Nittany Lions. Campbell never landed a four-star recruit during his time at Iowa State. Montgomery joins Landon Blum, Cooper Terwilliger, and top 100 recruit Kei’Shjun Telfair as composite four-stars in Penn State’s class.
So far, the top two players in Pennsylvania for the 2027 recruiting cycle, Kemon Spell and Maxwell Hiller, have left for the SEC, committing to Georgia and Florida, respectively. Top-five PA recruit James Halter is also a Notre Dame commit.
With the amount of talent pouring out of PA this cycle, Campbell needs to put together a major recruiting class, and though he’s whiffed on a few five-stars, the Montgomery commitment proves he can lock down top talent. It’s also a good sign for four-stars Abraham Sesay and Khalil Taylor, who round out the PA top-five.
Campbell will likely never be the top recruiter in the country. But to win his way, he doesn’t need to be. He needs to position Penn State somewhere in the top 20 and have a great developmental pipeline with key transfer pickups. Right now, his class ranks No. 4 in the country, so he’s well on his way to executing that plan.
The Montgomery commitment is a step in the right direction, and a statement that Campbell can keep top in-state talent home. If Campbell is going to build a title contender, those are the types of recruiting wins he needs to stack.
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