Things truly are going from bad to worse for Penn State football and interim head coach Terry Smith out on the recruiting trail. Commits for the 2026 class are changing their minds left and right, and plenty of signs are pointing to a homegrown talent doing the same soon.
Top candidates for the Penn State job with another candidate off the board
Since August 2013, in-state running back Messiah Mickens has been committed to the Nittany Lions and fans have been fired up about his potential in Happy Valley. Let's hold the phone on that, as the Oklahoma Sooners and Brent Venables are putting in serious work in trying to flip him.
That could end up going down, as Rivals' Adam Gorney put in his official prediction for Mickens to tell Penn State that he's not going to be Big Ten-bound after all. Instead, Gorney thinks he's going to be playing his college ball in the SEC:
NEW: Rivals’ @adamgorney has logged an expert prediction for Oklahoma to flip Penn State 4-star RB commit Messiah Mickens⭕️
— Rivals (@Rivals) November 12, 2025
Read: https://t.co/EuWQj3UdCM pic.twitter.com/pvJerFdp2e
Penn State appears close to losing 4-star RB commit Messiah Mickens to Oklahoma
When will the rough news stop coming in for the Nittany Lions? People are still down in the dumps after Penn State almost pulled off the biggest upset of the year against Indiana, only for Fernando Mendoza to break countless hearts with a late drive.
In terms of recruiting, Penn State continues to lose plenty of pledges following the news that James Franklin had been fired. Even more have said that while they are still committed to the program, they're still going to take other visits and their process isn't fully shut down - what a mess.
Losing Mickens would sting for several different reasons. In addition to being a 4-star talent, he's also close by in Harrisburg, which is only about 90 minutes away from the Penn State campus. Penn State always wants to make in-state kids a priority.
Seeing Mickens potentially say goodbye to Pennsylvania and hello to Oklahoma wouldn't sit well with a lot of people. Barring a late change, however, it seems like the nation's No. 13 RB per the 247Sports Composite is going to give Smith and his staff some brutal news sooner rather than later.