Penn State's brutal Kemon Spell loss stings less with Aiden Gibson's major rankings boost

This time a year ago, Penn State was coming off a College Football Playoff Semifinal appearance, looked poised for another CFP run, and had the 2027 in-state recruiting class looming as a perfect opportunity to reload. Few, if any, would have guessed a year later that James Franklin would be gone, and nearly all of the top talent from Pennsylvania would be heading elsewhere. 

One of the most painful in-state recruiting losses was five-star running back Kemon Spell, a longtime Franklin commit who is now heading to Georgia. Spell is the No. 11 player in the country according to 247Sports' latest rankings update, a slight dip from his peak. But that wasn’t the big news. 

With Spell gone, Matt Campbell turned to Aiden Gibson from South Carolina as his top running back target in the class, and in the first update since his commitment on June 5, Gibson shot up to No. 103 in the nation and the No. 6 running back. 

Aiden Gibson rises to No. 103 in the country by 247Sports update

Penn State has quite the history of running back talent, and when Spell committed to the Nittany Lions as a sophomore in August, 2024, it seemed he was next in line. The McKeesport product is a dynamic playmaker and has long been the top running back in the class. Like with D’Andre Swift in 2017, Kirby Smart rolled into Pennsylvania and brought Spell down south. 

Even after this ratings boost, Gibson isn’t quite Spell’s caliber, but the 6-foot-1, 212-pound four-star could certainly have an NFL future. The biggest question about Gibson’s game is his breakaway speed, but that’s not what Campbell and offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser prioritize at the position. They wanted physically imposing backs who maximize runs between the tackles with great vision and physical finishes, and got it with Gibson and three-star Chukwuma Odoh. 

That’s not to say Spell doesn’t. With his compact 5-foot-9, 205-pound frame, he’s a nightmare to bring down, whether he’s working between the tackles or bouncing a run to the outside, and the home run speed is not a concern. He would’ve been a great fit, so the miss still hurts, but Gibson’s stock is trending in the right direction, so it seems Campbell managed to salvage the situation in the backfield. 

Matt Campbell is surviving despite his in-state struggles

As for the rest of the in-state class, Campbell’s lack of established connections cost the Nittany Lions a potentially generational class. After the latest update, Pennsylvania has six top-100 recruits in 2027, and the Nittany Lions have a commitment from just one of them, Stanley Montgomery. 

Maxwell Hiller, the No. 2 player and top OT in the country, is heading to Florida, Spell to Georgia, Abraham Sesay is likely leaving PA for Notre Dame, OT James Halter already has, and OT Terrance Smith is trending toward LSU. 

That’s a major missed opportunity for the Penn State program, especially considering there was a significant amount of in-state talent committed to Penn State before Franklin’s firing. Those connections were fraying, though, after Penn State’s Week 5 overtime loss to Oregon, so there’s no guarantee that Franklin would have fared better with his in-state targets than Campbell has. And it’s unlikely he would have managed those losses as well as Campbell has with big-time risers like Gibson, and OT David Tarawallie.

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