Twenty six days after he was named Bill O’Brien’s replacement as head coach at Penn State, James Franklin introduced his first recruiting class.
The former Vanderbilt coach moves quickly — with less than a month to prepare, Franklin compiled a consensus Top 25 class on National Signing Day that finished third in the Big Ten, behind only Ohio State and Michigan State.
His best work came in flipping recruits’ commitments, taking five of his Vanderbilt recruits to State College and landing wide receiver and former Rutgers commit Saeed Blacknall of Manalapan (N.J.) High School — one of six four-star recruits in the class, according to Scout.com — and safety/linebacker Koa Farmer, who had been headed to California.
“He’s been very energetic and eager, and it’s clear that he builds very strong relationships with kids,” Scout.com recruiting analyst Brian Dohn said in a phone interview. “He got the job at Penn State and a lot of [his Vanderbilt recruits] followed him there, including some who’ve never been on campus. It’s clear kids believe in him.
“He’s been able to show his relationships extend beyond one football program.”
Franklin felt he addressed a need for depth on the offensive line, at safety and especially at wide receiver, where Penn State brought in three highly rated prospects.
“We got a quarterback we feel really good about and it would be a shame if we didn’t find some talent to surround him with,” Franklin said, referring to impressive freshman Christian Hackenberg. “I think we helped ourself there.”
Franklin, who spoke at a press conference, said he was pleased with the class overall, but in no way thrilled, particularly about not finishing first in the Big Ten.
“We’ll get that fixed here in the near future,” he said.
“The staff kept recruiting and kept making phone calls and finding guys we had relationships with, seeing if they were interested.”
Franklin, who left Vanderbilt after three seasons, was one of three coaches who moved to new schools at the Division I level and enjoyed big days, in part because they were able to bring their own recruits with them.
USC’s Steve Sarkisian, previously of Washington, and Washington’s Chris Peterson, previously of Boise State, were also successful. Dohn said that trend doesn’t alarm him, in part, because players commit to coaches these days as much as to schools.
“It’s happening more now because kids are committing so much earlier,” Dohn said. “The kids you’re looking at, you’re talking about three coaches that took somewhat lateral moves.”