Penn State football lost out on a crew of recruits — many of whom opted to take their talents to Notre Dame. Joey O'Brien and Khary Adams were two of the most recent recruits to commit to the Fighting Irish over the Nittany Lions.
In recent developments with NIL, schools are now able to pay athletes directly. However, some schools are at a greater advantage than others given the resources they're able to allocate per sport. In other words, not every athletics department has or will opt to reach the $20.5 million cap to give to their student-athletes.
“The way I kind of understand it is this is revenue sharing rules and NIL rules kind of are all under this umbrella,” Franklin said, according to Pro Football Network. “But I would also say that I really think it’s pretty much going to be everything. I think football is going to be run by this entity.”
College football spearheads a vast majority, at the very least, of athletics programs. Schools who have the funds to pay their athletes will naturally become more and more appealing to new recruits looking for their NCAA home in the near future.
“If you want to be a part of this, you’re in, and if you don’t want to be a part of it, then go play somewhere else," Franklin said.
It can't go unnoticed that Penn State is a big spender, and that's expected to be showcased in its 2025-26 roster. One thing holding the Nittany Lions back, potentially though, is not setting aside funds to their incoming freshmen. Notre Dame as a whole, on the other hand, is a marketable brand that can and will compete with top-spending schools. It's possible that NIL packages for incoming freshmen is part of that.
"[It's] very similar to, I think maybe a Major League Baseball model, an NFL model," Franklin said according to On3. "[This] is what they are trying to bring to college football."
Despite knowing that college football will be run by this "entity," Franklin intends to build a roster that comes from the relationships made with the coaches and team. This happened with transfer Trebor Pena.
"A lot of the financial descriptions of how that played out? None of those things were true regarding Penn State,” Franklin said. “At least based on our experience, they were nonfactors . . . in terms of what his deciding factors about coming to Penn State were,”
The Nittany Lions also searched for more funds to give to their top running backs, Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. This is something that can stand out negatively to new recruits. While recruitment isn't all about money, NIL packages can definitely sway a student-athlete one way or another if they have good relationships with various teams' staffs.
It's not upfront and they won't commit to schools knowing they'll be paid a certain amount as teams are not allowed to use NIL as a bargaining chip for high school recruits. However, when considering the school as a brand and market, it's easier to narrow down where they'll succeed the most on the field and in the bank.
At the end of the day, Franklin doesn't want his team exclusively molded by NIL funds and the revenue-sharing model. What needs to happen for Penn State, though, is winning in those big game scenarios that can make, break, hurt, or help the season, roster, and future of the program as a whole. That's the real bargaining chip that's up for grabs. Notre Dame just currently happens to have an edge on Penn State in both of those matters.