Matt Campbell just set his sights on a Michigan commit and it’s a battle he needs to win

Matt Campbell has yet to emphatically answer that he can recruit at an elite level since leaving Iowa State for Happy Valley. While three-star offensive lineman Louis Esposito wouldn’t necessarily quell any outstanding concerns regarding his staff’s recruiting acumen, the Michigan commit is a battle that Campbell may need to win. 

According to Tyler Calvaruso of Lions247, Penn State offered the Michigan native on Monday, beginning its uphill battle to flip the 6-foot-5, 285-pound offensive lineman. In this case, the pressure is on Campbell to best another first-year Big Ten head coach, and a former Big 12 rival, if only briefly, Kyle Whittingham, in a head-to-head battle. 

Penn State offers 3-star offensive lineman Louis Esposito after his father departs Michigan staff

Esposito committed to the Wolverines in July when Sherrone Moore was still the head coach in Ann Arbor, and more importantly, when his father, Lou Esposito, was still the defensive line coach. Moore has since been fired, replaced by Whittingham, and Esposito has landed in Baltimore under former Michigan defensive coordinator and newly hired Ravens head coach Jesse Minter. 

Esposito still has a ways to go in his recruiting process heading into the summer ahead of his senior high school season, and with so much turnover in Ann Arbor, Campbell, and Penn State, have clearly seen the door swing open. Plus, if proximity to his father is important for Louis, who was not going to play directly for Lou, who coached the other side of the line of scrimmage, then Happy Valley is much closer to Baltimore than Ann Arbor. 

Whittingham, like Campbell, is known as a developer. Rather than compete for the top four and five-star talents, he’s known for getting the most out of three-stars like Esposito. Now, both at the biggest program they’ve ever led and with the most resources they’ve ever had at their disposal, Whittingham and Campbell will need to learn on the fly how to attract elite prospects and hone their roster construction philosophy in this new chapter of their career. 

As the two jockey for position in the Big Ten hierarchy, it’s safe to assume that they’ll still be interested in many of the three-star caliber players who led them to prominence at Utah and Iowa State. Esposito is one of those classic developmental pieces with high upside that they’ve both built careers on maximizing, so if Campbell can land this punch, flipping Esposito from Whittingham, it will be a significant tone setter on the recruiting trail for the 2027 cycle.