Matt Campbell is off to an undeniably fast start on the recruiting trail in the 2027 class. With 20 commits in place, his class ranks No. 5 in the country according to 247Sports. However, the volatility of that ranking has come into question.
Is Penn State being propped up purely by early volume? It’s an easy argument to make with an average player rating that slots 19th in the country and only three four stars. The lack of blue-chip talent, though, isn’t the biggest concern. It’s where that talent is coming from.
Penn State’s top target has to be all of Pennsylvania
Of Penn State’s 20 commits, only four are from Pennsylvania. And that’s certainly not because the in-state talent pool is barren. By 247Sports Composite rankings, three PA recruits are top 50 players: No. 3 Maxwell Hiller, No. 6 Kemon Spell, and No. 50 Abraham Sesay. And seven are in the top 120: No. 77 Khalil Taylor, No. 87 James Halter, No. 107 Matthew Gregory, and No. 120 Stanley Montgomery. Only Montgomery is a Penn State commit.
Hiller has committed to Florida, Spell to Georgia, and Halter to Notre Dame. Sesay is heavily favored to Notre Dame entering the official visit season, and Gregory does not have an official visit scheduled to Happy Valley. So, the best-case scenario, if Campbell can somehow sway Sesay, is for Penn State to have three of the top seven players in the state. It may get overlooked in the excitement of Campbell’s first offseason, but that’s unacceptable.
If you expand to the top 20 players in PA heading into the summer, Penn State currently has two commitments from the 12 players committed. That’s coming off a cycle in which Campbell replaced Franklin late, and Penn State held onto just three in-state commits. So, the program is on the verge of two real down years in the state, and that could be the type of thing that sets a program back.
James Franklin always said, “The best in PA, stay in PA,” and while it got old hearing that, and it didn’t always ring true, he understood that recruiting has to start at home. This hasn’t yet reached a level where it's a fair critique of Campbell. There’s still time for it to be rectified, either in this class or the next, but it’s going to be an uphill battle.
Matt Campbell needs to land Khalil Taylor, and Abraham Sesay would be nice too
Because of the in-state factors and the lack of blue-chip players heading to Happy Valley for the official visit season, four-star wide receiver Khalil Taylor from Pine Richland High School in Western Pennsylvania, and four-star edge rusher Abraham Sesay from Downingtown East High School in Eastern PA, should currently be priorities 1 and 1A for Campbell and his staff.
To their credit, they’ve done a good job of making inroads in nearby states, landing five commits from New Jersey, two from Ohio, one from Maryland, and three-star QB Will Wood from Massachusetts. Still, they need a stronger showing in Pennsylvania, especially in such a talented in-state class.
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