Pitt has an unexpected ally helping it pry four-star commit Matt Sieg from Penn State

Unsurprisingly, Penn State’s recruiting classes quickly fractured after the program moved on from James Franklin. All four commits in the 2027 recruiting class de-committed from the program, and in 2026, the Nittany Lions have only held onto 15 recruits, but that number will continue to dwindle. 

Penn State’s two highest-ranked commits, Kevin Brown and Matt Sieg, are officially still committed, but it doesn’t appear that will be the case for long. Brown is under hot pursuit by Ohio State, and Pitt is pulling out all the stops to flip Sieg. That includes a phone call from former NFL head coach Jon Gruden, who contacted Sieg on Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi’s behalf. 

Jon Gruden gives a recruiting pitch for Pitt to flip Matt Sieg

Gruden does have a loose tie to Pitt, where he served as the wide receivers coach in 1991, and has been high on the Panthers and their true freshman quarterback, Mason Heintschel, in his media capacity with Barstool Sports. However, his recruitment of Sieg has largely come out of nowhere. 

Gruden reportedly attempted to sell Sieg on his fit in Narduzzi’s defense, which has been performing at a high level this season. However, calling on the former Super Bowl Champion isn’t the only thing Pitt is doing. The Panthers also sent a branded semi truck outside of Beaver High School on Friday night, where Sieg’s Fort Cherry Rangers beat Neshannock in the 1A WPIAL playoffs. 

While Sieg has yet to technically de-commit from Penn State, he has reopened his recruitment and is scheduled to visit West Virginia at the end of the month. He recently told KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh that his recruitment is coming down to Pitt, Indiana, WVU, and wherever James Franklin ends up. 

Franklin’s next stop is the ultimate wild card in Penn State’s 2026 recruiting. He has been heavily rumored to be a fit at Virginia Tech, but whichever program hires him will almost certainly take a bite out of the Nittany Lions’ 2026 class, a class that he built in Happy Valley. 

Sieg was a major piece of that class and Penn State’s defensive future as the 180th-ranked player in the country according to 247Sports Composite Rankings and the No. 5 overall player in Pennsylvania. Brown is the No. 2 player in PA, and is likely to flip to the Buckeyes, which could leave Penn State with just one of the state’s eight recruits, four-star running back Messiah Mickens.