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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.What's the word on the street regarding their class? Sparty, what say ye?
Does PSU ever make a full recovery?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!
Does PSU ever make a full recovery?
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.
Maybe. But I really don't think Franklin is the guy to take them there.Does PSU ever make a full recovery?
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.
Maybe. But I really don't think Franklin is the guy to take them there.
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.
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.
Go outside the family.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.
Are there any coaches in the Paterno tree who might come back (and be good)?
Or, better yet;Go outside the family.
Tom Hermann.
That bullshit wearing thin - MSU was so disrespected that it was offered a playoff spot last season.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.
Yeah, Mike just needs to give that crap a rest.That bullshit wearing thin - MSU was so disrespected that it was offered a playoff spot last season.
Boy, what a slap in the face.
I was referring to MSU playing that same disrespect card over and over again. That is what gets tiresome.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.
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.
Patterson won't leave the state of Texas.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.
What's the word on the street regarding their class? Sparty, what say ye?
Go outside the family.
Tom Hermann.