As one recruiting class closes, PSU lays the groundwork for 2019

James Franklin’s signing day teleconference Wednesday was an opportunity to celebrate and recap the collective 23 members who had joined his class of Class of 2018, enough to give him the fifth-ranked group nationally and, personally, his best one ever.

But Franklin also took a moment to nimbly shift focus to the upcoming 2019 class. Recruiting, as the cliche goes, never really ends.

Franklin did so in response to a question regarding his new assistant coach Ja’Juan Seider, who is deeply connected in Florida, among other southern states in which PSU has only peripherally recruited recently.

Like some of his other assistants, Franklin was drawn to Seider due to his unique personality and athletic history as a quarterback both at the Division I level and professionally.

But make no mistake, Seider’s background as a high school coach in South Florida, his ties to prep programs throughout the state and about a decade’s worth of experience recruiting south of the Mason-Dixon line provides an asset to Franklin and his staff that did not previously exist.

“You don't hire Ja'Juan unless you're going to make a recruiting shift,” Franklin said, “and you don't hire Ja'Juan and not recruit Florida. It doesn't make any sense.”

The timing is opportune.

With all but one of its 2018 recruits signing during the early period in December, Penn State has already gotten off to a nearly unprecedented jump creating relationships among members of the Class of 2019. Only two verbal commitments have been secured, but scholarships have been going out at a frenzied pace. Upwards of 50, some more formal than others, have been extended since the turn of the calendar year.

Immediately following the hire of Seider in late January, a spread of offers were broadcast throughout the Sunshine state.

“We have recruited Florida in the past, but obviously, once you make this decision, you're going to recruit it harder,” added Franklin. “(Seider) is going to get us into some doors because of his relationships and his reputation that maybe we weren't involved in before.”

Expanding the territory might grow into a necessity as Franklin forms his next recruiting class.

Despite a total of 142 offers that have gone out, according to the Rivals database, only two have been extended to prospects in Pennsylvania: commit CB Keaton Ellis from State College and LB target Andre White of Harrisburg.

“There just haven’t been as many players,” Franklin said. “If you look, there haven’t been as many offers go out in our state, not just from Penn State but from (other programs) around the country. There are going to be years where the state is really strong, and you're going to be able to sign 12, 15 players from a state and there are going to be years where you sign three or four or five.

“So you have to be able to broaden your nets so that you're able to handle that and to overcome what may be a down year in the state or a down year in the region.”

Enter Seider.

“When you say Florida, that won't be the only area I recruit,” Seider said, “but it’ll give us a chance to go out and compete and get a couple kids here and there who may be difference-makers, that we don’t have in our backyard for whatever reason for that year. That's what Ohio State is doing, what Michigan is doing and what Notre Dame is doing. Why not go to Florida, especially with the way the kids get developed down there with spring practice and the extra reps they get?”

When Seider coached at West Virginia, an institution from which he has two degrees, a common perception was that recruits from Florida or other southern states would be adverse to going north for their college careers, to play in the upper altitudes and colder weather.

However, he has found that’s not a difficult apprehension to overcome. In fact, he’s done it himself. Seider is a native of Belle Glades, but he’s spent a large portion of his adult life in West Virginia both as a player and coach.

“I think it’s a tradeoff,” he said, adding how opposing coaches often use the cold weather as a scare tactic to keep southern prospects near home. But, "too much negative recruiting hurts you more than it helps you. Kids adjust. I mean, every kid wants to play in the NFL, so they have to get over that weather part of it. It’s cold, but most people like dressing up warm with a sweatshirt on. The tradeoff is when it’s real hot down there you get the nice mild summers up here.”

Combined with the fact that Penn State has played in consecutive New Years Six bowl games, finished with a couple 11-win seasons and are approaching the upper echelons of college football once again, Seider has other selling points in order to encourage those who have similar roots as him to make a leap like he did some 20 years ago.

“When you have a product like we’re seeing right now and the success that the program is having, with back-to-back BCS level games, kids see that on TV,” Seider said. “Every kid's objective is to go to school right now and then go to the NFL and get a great education. Well, Penn State offers that.”

One reason he was hired by Franklin was to ensure more recruits are aware of that possibility than what might have been the case previously. Because for the Class of 2019, that appears to be what's needed.