Matt Campbell and his Penn State staff have a lot to fix with their 2026 team, but with a chance to zoom out during the Nittany Lions’ lone bye week of 2026, they may have already realized that the bigger priority is getting the program in a better place for 2027 and beyond.
To that end, Campbell spent much of the bye week on the recruiting trail. During his 10 years at Iowa State, he wasn’t known as an elite recruiter; instead, he leveraged the limited resources in Ames to uncover hidden gems and develop overlooked three-stars into impact players in the Big 12.
Now at Penn State, even with the program’s limited budget compared to the top of the Big Ten, nearly $20 million short of Ohio State and Oregon in 2026, his upgraded circumstances carry increased pressure to deliver on the recruiting trail. Currently, he has the No. 20-ranked class in the country, but a little over a month out from the early signing period for 2027, he and general manager Derek Hoodjer still have some significant holes to fill.
So far, with the team at 3-4 and 0-4 in Big Ten play and the class already down a quarterback after three-star Will Wood flipped to Boston College, it appears that the Nittany Lions are on the defensive. But there’s still time for Campbell to flip that around and add to the depth of the class in the heart of flip season.
Penn State’s most important 2027 flip targets:
5. McCoy Richardson, DL - 3-star Wake Forest commit
The 6-foot-3, 300-pound defensive lineman visited Beaver Stadium for Penn State’s Week 1 matchup with Marshall, and at the time, he was predicted to flip from Wake Forest. However, since early September, Jake Dickert’s team in Winston-Salem has emerged as a top challenger to Miami in the ACC, and Penn State has drifted to the bottom of the Big Ten.
Campbell, Hoodjer, and defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe may have turned their attention elsewhere, but Richardson still fits Malloe’s preferred archetype on a defensive line that has looked consistently overmatched against Big Ten competition. The Springfield, Massachusetts product is ranked No. 655 in the class by 247Sports composite.
4. Chase Guers, WR - 3-star West Virginia commit
Penn State has been desperately pushing to add another wide receiver to complement Landom Blum in the 2027 class after losing Jamir Dean in a flip to Georgia and missing out on Deshawn Hall and Khalil Taylor. That player could be Guers, the No. 83 wide receiver in the country and No. 20 recruit in PA by the composite rankings.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Blue Mountain High School pass-catcher visited Penn State for its Week 4 matchup with Wisconsin, part of a massive recruiting weekend, but it’s not clear if Campbell and his staff have mounted much momentum.
3. Jamar Taylor, WR - 3-star Rutgers commit
Taylor was also in attendance against Wisconsin, and has also yet to flip, but there’s still time. A 6-foot-4, 205-pound outside receiver, Taylor fits the physical profile Penn State has sought after with this new staff and is ranked as the No. 69 wide receiver in the country.
The Delaware State Champion in the high school with that frame, Taylor could be a major jump-ball and red zone threat at the next level and continue to build out a wide receiver room that has seemingly prioritized catch radius under new WR coach Kashif Moore.
2. Markius Woods, DL - 3-star former Boston College commit
The same day that Wood flipped to Boston College, Markius Woods decommitted from the Eagles. While quarterback is the most important position, Penn State might be happy to make that trade. While Wood was unlikely to ever become the starter in Happy Valley, Woods, the No. 576 recruit in the country and another 6-foot-3, 300+ pounder, could certainly work his way into the interior defensive line rotation.
Woods has interest from Missouri and Kansas State, but the Lawrenceville, New Jersey product also has a visit scheduled to Penn State on November 21, when the Nittany Lions host Rutgers. He may be the focus over Richardson, or the Nittany Lions could be looking to flip both before the early signing period, even with Stanley Montgomery and Aniti Paiva already committed as defensive tackle prospects.
1. Braylen Warren, QB - 4-star, Missouri commit
On Wednesday, a few days after Wood flipped, Campbell flew out to Omaha to extend an offer to 4-star QB Braylen Warren. The No. 18 QB in the country and an Elite 11 finalist from the summer, Warren has been committed to Mizzou since December 2025.
Penn State will need to make a major push and potentially even overpay relative to the QB market to pull this one off, and with his relatively limited physical upside as a 6-foot-1 QB with more touch and anticipation than raw arm talent, that’s a risky proposition. Still, those traits could win out and produce a quality Power 4 starter in a similar mold to what Campbell had in Brock Purdy, though that has become an insanely lofty comparison with his NFL success.
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