With 20 recruits already pledged to Penn State, Matt Campbell has the second-largest 2027 class in the country as of May 26. And while there are concerns about that volume over-inflating Penn State's recruiting ranking, which currently sits at No. 5 despite having just six four-stars and no five-stars, getting off to that hot start is as important as ever in the NIL and revenue-sharing landscape.
Even at programs like Texas Tech, Texas, and Ohio State, where spending seems virtually unlimited, there is a finite amount of money. Recruits know that, and they want to ensure they get a cut of it. The best way to do that is to lock up a deal and commit early in the process.
That also makes it important for teams to get deals done early so they know where the money is going and how much they have to spend on a few big-ticket items, because it can lead to trouble if you overspend on a top recruit and don’t have the resources to fill out the rest of the class.
With the foundation built, it’s time for Penn State to take a few big swings
With revenue sharing, every program has at least some money to spend on its roster, so in some ways, it becomes a race to spend it. Recruiting timelines have gotten massively compressed, and while a commitment means as little as ever, an NIL deal, at least in most cases, is legally binding.
So, as players commit earlier, the pool of talent shrinks more quickly, and often, that drives the price up for the uncommitted players, the ones willing to risk being left without a roster spot. Those tend to be the elite recruits, who know that there is always room for them somewhere.
The revenue-sharing cap has done nothing to control spending in college football. Nor should it, because it wasn’t collectively bargained by the players, so any imposed limits on their earning potential would be illegal. Still, without a hard cap, massive inequities exist in the college football marketplace, so for Penn State, a program that’s near the top, but not at it, it’s critical to have urgency because the war chest isn’t deep enough to dig itself out of a hole.
And yet, for all the good work Campbell has done in the class, it’s without a real centerpiece. The foundation is in place for the 2027 class. It may fall out of the Top 10 as the rest of the country catches up to the volume, but it’s hard to imagine it falling out of the Top 25. So, with that groundwork laid, it’s time to take some big swings on elite recruits, so long as Penn State has enough money left to stay in the fight.
The problem is, there aren’t many on the radar for Campbell and his staff. Only three top-100 recruits by Rivals Industry are scheduled for an upcoming official visit to Penn State, and two, Kei’Shjuan Telfair and Stankley Montgomery, are already committed. The third is four-star wide receiver Khalil Taylor, who is suddenly one of, if not the priority, for the Nittany Lions.
The early work on the recruiting trail was critical, but it’s time to pay it off with a big splash or two. Now, we’ll see if Penn State has the resources and Campbell has the chops.
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