What about MSU's class?
- Thread starter detroitjohn
- Start date
Their highest-rated recruit didn't make it because of multiple arrests. Dantonio is going to wait for things to die down before signing him I guess.
I think it is very good. Some of the Wide outs will play next year and maybe a DL. Hopefully they can red-shirt most of these guys.
Sparty had a really good class actually. They had a strong need for DE/DT and WRs and they loaded up on that front. By far the best WR group in the country - all their 4 WRs are Top 250 players. You could argue that Michigan did well but Sparty picked up speed with Corley and then a lot of size. All their WRs are big and tall! Sparty has also shown a knack for developing their lines really well so I expect their D-line will be solid.
I think Michigan had a much better class, no doubt especially at the top end with Gary, Asiasi, Long, Bredeson, Peters, & Crawford but I think the Sparty ended up doing pretty well for themselves and they got some very talented players. While us Michigan fans would love to see Sparty back to the 5-7 win team they used to be, they are here to stay as long as Dantonio is at the helm. The Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State battles will be epic in the coming years. BTW, Penn State had a really good class as well - they just have a terrible coach!
I think Michigan had a much better class, no doubt especially at the top end with Gary, Asiasi, Long, Bredeson, Peters, & Crawford but I think the Sparty ended up doing pretty well for themselves and they got some very talented players. While us Michigan fans would love to see Sparty back to the 5-7 win team they used to be, they are here to stay as long as Dantonio is at the helm. The Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State battles will be epic in the coming years. BTW, Penn State had a really good class as well - they just have a terrible coach!
Ever? Sure. Penn State still has a lot of structural advantages, and is at the tier-of-programs just below being a "true college football blue blood." It's probably inevitable in the long-term.
(of course, in the long-term, we're all also dead.
)As for the IMMEDIATE-term? PSU's probably stuck in a 7-to-9-win-spin cycle for the back half of the 2010s. Franklin is recruiting good (not elite) talent. But he's not thus far developing and coaching them like other folk are.
PSU won 7-to-9 games every single year from 2010 to 2015. "Treading water at that level" likely continues for awhile. Not bad, not great either. Lots of Outback Bowls for me to attend in future years!
Ever? Sure. Penn State still has a lot of structural advantages, and is at the tier-of-programs just below being a "true college football blue blood." It's probably inevitable in the long-term.
(of course, in the long-term, we're all also dead.
As for the IMMEDIATE-term? PSU's probably stuck in a 7-to-9-win-spin cycle for the back half of the 2010s. Franklin is recruiting good (not elite) talent. But he's not thus far developing and coaching them like other folk are.
PSU won 7-to-9 games every single year from 2010 to 2015. "Treading water at that level" likely continues for awhile. Not bad, not great either. Lots of Outback Bowls for me to attend in future years!
What happened to recruiting this year? It seemed like Franklin was on fire out of the gate and heading to a top 5-ish class. I know Michigan stole a couple recruits, but that doesn't explain it.
Basically no good news for Penn State football over the last several months ---- no wins since Halloween, assistant coaches left, Hackenberg was obviously disinterested at the end. Easy to lose momentum in that environment.
I read this stat yesterday, I initially found it hard to believe but it is true: PSU has had Top 20 recruiting classes in each of the last 3 years, and that's the first time PSU has had Top 20 recruiting classes in 3 consecutive years since the mid-1990s.
So, there is talent. A Dantoino or Ferentz type coach would easily excel with that talent. A Hoke type coach would not. Some early returns are already in, but we'll know even more where Franklin falls on that spectrum in the next 365 days.
Maybe. But I really don't think Franklin is the guy to take them there.
That is surprising. I see so much bitching on BWI about the sanctions that I had no idea recruiting was that good.
Just my opinion. If I was Penn State I would fire Franklin after this season and do whatever I could to entice Gary Patterson to Happy Valley. GP is a damn fine coach. They are going to need a top flight coach to compete in the BIG 10 east division.
It's a nice idea, but he has no ties to Penn State as far as I know. He's been at TCU for 15 years. If he wanted to move up to a top-tier school, he would have already, in my opinion.
Maybe Penn State has just what they need right now: a used car salesman.
February 2012, there were no sanctions, but there was a lot of smoke in the air and O'Brien had just been hired. Bad enviornment to recruit in: that class was 50th-ish. Lost a lot of players late to Ohio State.
February 2013, there were sanctions, that class was also 50th-ish.
Sanctions had already been reduced by February 2014. Could sign 20, PSU signed more like 22-23 because of early enroll kids. That class was 20th-ish.
Nothing at all on the sanctions front in February 2015-February 2016.
The sanctions were a hell of a punch --- anybody saying "Penn State got off with minimal punishment" is 100% incorrect.
But they weren't a knockout punch. PSU is still fairly well-positioned talent-wise right now.
No connection there. Patterson is happy where he is, he already is competing at nationally-elite levels, and has no ties at all to the Northeast or B1G.
Franklin is what he is. People tend to forget, but PSU wasn't a top-flight job to hire for in January 2014. Sanctions had been partially reduced but by no means completely eliminated, and there were tons of residual effects. He was a credible hire, but not a great hire.
I'd say that Penn State's next great coach is probably TWO coaches away. The football program needs a new identity --- and getting there will be a process. JoePa is dead, so he's not the identity anymore. And the sanctions are ending too, so "scrappy underdogs and fighters" is not the identity anymore EITHER. Right now, we're risking growing an identity of "loud-talking football coach who runs talented but disorganized football teams that don't walk the walk behind the coach's talk."
I think the successful identity eventually is "no-talk, no-circus, take our share of good talent and built a walk-the-walk punch-you-in-the-mouth, tough successful football team" --- sort of what like Dantonio has built into Michigan State --- but PSU is quite a ways away from that identity right now.
It's probably 5-10 years of wandering the desert and treading the water before we morph into that.
No. Hell no.
Well, wait, there might be a couple. There's this guy named Jay. He'd currently unemployed, but that's not his fault. It's a grand conspiracy by Louis Freeh, the NCAA, and 500 different football coaching staffs across America.
And another guy named Jerry will be available someday. Although it's not till about the year 2232 or so. But he did lead some nationally-elite defenses back in the 80s.
As aoi_toku just said, PSU needs to go outside the family. We MUST go outside the family. Look forward, not back.
It seems a lot of PSU fans think Franklin can't close:
"Franklin made major mistakes in waiting for last day kids. Last day kids, with big egos, do not go to Penn State. Ever. Joe knew this, now James knows it also."
"Franklin made major mistakes in waiting for last day kids. Last day kids, with big egos, do not go to Penn State. Ever. Joe knew this, now James knows it also."
Coach Mike would be fuming reading how this thread was hijacked.
Eventually he'd realize... "hey, another disrespect card I can play".
It's all good.
Eventually he'd realize... "hey, another disrespect card I can play".
It's all good.
Sorry to hijack. Back to MSU. They will continue to have really good classes with Meyer and Harbaugh taking more of a national approach. Ohio State will always get the top Ohio kids for the most part. Dantonio is a great coach and motivator. He has strong ties in Michigan and Ohio and recruits alot of kids that don't hold UM or OSU offers. That's the identity of MSU. He plays the disrespect card and those kids play with a giant chip on their shoulder. These next 5 or so years are going to be a slug fest.
That bullshit wearing thin - MSU was so disrespected that it was offered a playoff spot last season.
Boy, what a slap in the face.
Not saying MSU as a school or program is disrespected. I'm saying the kids that grow up dreaming of playing for UM or OSU that never received an offer. I'm saying he uses that as a motivational tool to get the most out of his players.
I was referring to MSU playing that same disrespect card over and over again. That is what gets tiresome.
I'm not sure he's even at the level of used car salesman, more like a carnival barker.
Everything I read or saw on TV said it was MSU best class since Mike has been there. I don't think they got a bump from their playoff appearance but that'll be next year I would think.
Best class MSU has signed in the modern era of football. Landed 10, 4* caliber recruits along with 4 3* kids that are right on the edge of being 4* kids. By far, best class Dantonio has ever landed and if he backs it up with another class this good MSU will CONTINUE to be a team that is in the picture for winning their division.
