Penn State Headlines: Why Aren't the Nittany Lions Dominating the State in Recruiting?

Eight of Pennsylvania's top 10 recruiting prospects have committed elsewhere for 2025. What gives?

Penn State football coach James Franklin speaks to reporters during a press conference in Holuba Hall. / Dan Rainville/USA Today Network - PA /

Penn State collected a host of recruiting commitments in June, raised its 2025 national ranking into the top 10 and even welcomed a quarterback in the 2026 class. All in all, a pretty good recruiting month. But recruiting ebbs and flows (or soars and crashes, depending on your engagement level), and some decisions sting.

In this week's edition of the Penn State Headlines, we'll check in with Pennsylvania recruiting after a key in-state prospect committed to South Carolina. In addition, the Beaver Stadium renovation continued to make news, and Nittany Lions fans have their say in a survey.

A Pennsylvania prospect heads South

Lex Cyrus seemed like just the player Penn State needed in its 2025 recruiting class. He's an in-state speedster, having won a Pennsylvania 100-meter title for Susquehanna Township High, who plays a position of need. Penn State's ninth-ranked class has two receiver commits, neither ranked in 247Sports' top 200 nationally. And yet, after courting the 4-star Cyrus for more than a year, Penn State fell to South Carolina in the commitment sweepstakes. Cyrus announced his decision Thursday.

One commitment elsewhere is not a referendum, but this one furthered a trend. In the seven months since refreshing his Pennsylvania recruiting pitch, Franklin has watched a bunch of in-state players leave. Eight of the state's top-10 players in the 2025 cycle, according to the 247Sports Composite, are committed elsewhere. That includes a top 4 of quarterback Matt Zollers (Missouri), edge rusher Zahir Mathis (Ohio State), tight end Andrew Olesh (Michigan) and offensive lineman Michael Carroll (Alabama).

Though each prospect and recruiting strategy is different, one thread winds through the system: NIL. As Ryan Snyder, recruiting analyst at Blue-White Illustrated, told the Reading Eagle's Rich Scarcella: "I do believe NIL is having a big impact on that. It’s just the reality of the situation."

This isn't terribly new. Franklin has subtly lamented NIL's effect on recruiting for several years. After the Blue-White Game, Franklin said that the game he considers "transformational" has grown more "transactional," largely because of the transfer portal and NIL. Today, an NIL offer can upstage most any recruiting pitch.

"It's such a factor now that you could do everything right and do everything perfect and out-recruit everybody but you can lose a guy because of the NIL opportunities," Franklin has said.

Sean Fitz of Blue-White Illustrated compiled a look at Penn State's recruiting post-Cyrus. His comprehensive piece (subscription required) is compelling, but this point was noteworthy. Some players considering Penn State are committing elsewhere, anticipating they could transfer back if things don't work out with their first choice. The recent transfers of in-state stars Julian Fleming and Nolan Rucci to Penn State underscored this thought process.

Of course, Penn State recruits nationally, and the 2025 class reflects that. Six of the 22 committed players are from Pennsylvania, while three play high school football in Miami and two in California. Still, as recently as December, Franklin was pitching Pennsylvania recruits very publicly.

"The best players in Pennsylvania need to stay in Pennsylvania," the coach said on Signing Day, "and they need to come to Penn State."

Penn State players consider Franklin an elite recruiter. Closing some of these bigger deals, however, might call for a different approach.

Two trustees challenge Beaver Stadium renovation

Penn State's $700 million Beaver Stadium renovation plan landed in the Wall Street Journal last week, though not so much favorably. The story, headlined "The $700 Million Clash Over Penn State Football," positioned the renovation as a potential financial pitfall for the athletic department and the university. Two trustees, Jay Paterno and Anthony Lubrano, spoke on record with the Journal to question such debt assumption as college athletics change.

"It’s hard to project 30 months, even 30 weeks, let alone 30 years,” Paterno told the Wall Street Journal. "You don’t want to be the most leveraged university in this new world."

What say you, Penn State fans?

Audrey Snyder of The Athletic conducts a fun annual survey that gives Nittany Lions a turn at the mic. Snyder released the survey results last week (subscription required). A few interesting responses:

• Nearly 60 percent of fans say they are satisfied or very satisfied with James Franklin.

• Half of respondents will consider the 2024 season successful if Penn State wins a College Football Playoff game.

• Quarterback Drew Allar gets high marks, though there were extremes: 3.4 percent consider him a Heisman Trophy finalist, and 5.6 percent say Beau Pribula will replace him.

• Essentially no one believes Penn State is leading the way in NIL (0.2 percent), but just 5.4 percent of respondents think Penn State is "underperforming" in NIL.

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @MarkWogenrich.