Penn State suffers its biggest de-commit yet since James Franklin was fired

Penn State has suffered quite a few recruiting losses since it fired James Franklin, but Sunday brought the most consequential, at least in the 2026 class, when four-star offensive tackle Kevin Brown announced that he was de-committing from the program. The Harrisburg native is the 61st-ranked player in the country and was the top-ranked recruit in Penn State’s 2026 class. 

Ohio State and West Virginia, where his father, Tim Brown, played his college football for Rich Rodriguez before a brief NFL career, have been pushing hard to land him. Now, after de-committing from the Nittany Lions, he is one step closer to joining one of their rivals. 

4-star OT Kevin Brown de-commits from Penn State with a flip coming

Brown was locked in with Penn State after his July 2024 commitment, but without a long-term head coach in place, the program was helpless to fend off the Buckeyes and Mountaineers. Now, with Brown gone, Penn State’s 2026 class is down to just 12 commits and ranks 59th in the country. 

Still, the damage is far from done. Penn State’s remaining top-ranked recruit, Brown’s teammate at Harrisburg, four-star running back Messiah Mickens, is trending toward a de-commitment, as is four-star safety Matt Sieg. The rest of the class will likely be raided once James Franklin is hired. Franklin has been in discussions with Virginia Tech, though there are reports that he is waiting to see if the Florida State job comes up before heading to Blacksburg. 

Offensive line is always a position of significance, but particularly for a roster that is losing at least three, if not four, starters from its current line and will need to undergo a complete roster overhaul with a new head coach. Additionally, the offensive line is almost certainly the most difficult position group to rebuild through the transfer portal, so losing an incoming player of Brown’s caliber is a massive blow to the program. 

It's not time to panic in Happy Valley

Penn State’s 2027 class has entirely dissipated, including in-state five-star running back Kemon Spell, and the 2026 class will continue to dwindle. Still, in an era where you can rebuild quickly through the transfer portal, athletic director Pat Kraft cannot afford to overreact to a lost recruiting cycle and rush a hire in a feeble attempt to keep it together. 

That includes removing the interim tag from Terry Smith. Smith got his first win on Saturday, and it was obvious how meaningful that was to the players on this year’s roster as they carried him off the field. Still, through just four games, he already has two blown fourth-quarter leads on his resume, and his game-management in both cases has been highly questionable. 

Smith was an important piece of Franklin’s staff and could be valuable as an assistant moving forward. Hiring him now may give the Nittany Lions a fighting chance to keep a few 2026 recruits in tow, but even a player as talented as Brown can’t play any role in the program’s decision-making about the next head coach.