Penn State's No. 5 overall Class of 2027 missed out on a composite four-star recruit on Monday.
Heading into the evening, the Nittany Lions were aware they weren't the favorite to land interior offensive lineman Carter Jones. Time was ticking fast for head coach Matt Campbell to pull off an upset, and he ultimately (and unsurprisingly) fell short.
The Virginia product had four teams in contention as 5 p.m. ET rolled around on Monday: Penn State, Clemson, Georgia, and Tennessee. The Tigers were the ones who ran away as the leader in this race.
BREAKING: Class of 2027 IOL Carter Jones has Committed to Clemson, he tells me for @Rivals⁰
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) May 25, 2026
The 6’6 300 IOL chose the Tigers over Tennessee, Penn State, and Georgia
“I’M ALL IN! A Clemson man needs no introduction!”⁰⁰https://t.co/7NGoSexlBl pic.twitter.com/sFZukuQQWm
Four-star offensive lineman Carter Jones commits to Clemson over Penn State, Georgia, and Tennessee
Expert predictions flooded in favoring Clemson a few days before Jones made his decision. Five predictions from Rivals and 247Sports combined were logged, including ones from national recruiting analyst Brian Dohn, vice president of recruiting Steve Wiltfong, and director of recruiting Chad Simmons. All predictions were submitted for Jones to commit to the Tigers.
Rivals also had Clemson with an 83.4 percent chance to land Jones.
“Penn State did have the lead back in April, but the more I talked with the coaches, and several meetings with coaches, I knew Clemson was the one,” Jones told Rivals.
Jones is the No. 414 overall recruit in the class and No. 22 interior offensive lineman, per 247Sports. He's ranked 11th among recruits from Virginia as well. Rivals lists Jones as a three-star prospect at No. 402 nationally, No. 29 at his position, and No. 11 from his state.
Now that Penn State had another top offensive line target come off the board, Campbell must pivot again. Before Jones' Clemson pick, Layton von Brandt shockingly committed to Auburn.
The Nittany Lions have two tackles (David Tarawallie and Ryan Robbins) and two interior linemen (Owen Reilly and Jon Sassic) in their Class of 2027, all of whom are three-star prospects. Out of their three targets in the trenches, only one is high on the blue and white.
Four-star Kyler Kuhn is ranked No. 211 nationally and No. 11 among interior offensive linemen, per 247Sports Composite rankings. Penn State is in the final four for Kuhn as well alongside Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri.
While the Tigers have the in-state advantage in this battle, the Big Ten is dominating the predictions. Unfortunately for Campbell, the Nittany Lions are not keeping up with the Cornhuskers or Hawkeyes. According to Rivals, Nebraska has a 23.7 percent chance and Iowa has a 20.7 percent chance to land Kuhn.
Kuhn is Penn State's last opportunity to land a blue-chip offensive lineman. After going 0-2 on Jones and von Brandt, Kuhn's recruitment is appearing more and more as a must-land situation.
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