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Mailbag: Will James Franklin rumors impact the early signing period?

The Penn State Nittany Lions are back at home this week, which means we'll see recruits inside Beaver Stadium tomorrow for the game against Illinois.

With the game set for a Noon ET kickoff, the list won't be very deep, although a handful of important prospects are expected to attend. One notable player returning is tight end Joey Schlaffer from Exeter Township outside Reading, Pa. I logged a Penn State FutureCast for Schlaffer yesterday, as I believe he should be on commitment watch every time he's on campus.

As for the mailbag, a lot of fans are wondering about the rumors surrounding head coach James Franklin being a top target for LSU and USC.

We'll touch on that and a few other notable topics in this week's mailbag, but first, please be sure to check out our sponsor, JFQ Lending, for all of your lending needs, including great refinancing rates.

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The Penn State Nittany Lion coaching staff has put together one of the best recruiting classes in the nation.
Penn State Nittany Lion head coach James Franklin is one of the leading candidates for the openings at LSU and USC

Do you foresee a smaller group of players signing in December due to the James Franklin USC/LSU rumors? @beaverman72

Obviously, so much could change, but my gut right now says no. We've been down this road a lot in recent years, and it's never really impacted previous classes. So, judging from history, it's hard for me to see that changing this year.

Now, with that said, I do think these two particular job openings, and the overall coaching market, makes this year's situation more intriguing than previous years. Those two schools are absolutely committed to building the best football programs that they possibly can. USC continues to invest heavily. LSU is LSU. That's what Franklin wants at Penn State.

Also, parting with their coaches early - or in LSU's case, announcing it early - gives them a lot of time to figure things out. Most of these openings don't come to light until mid-November or so.

So, if Franklin were to decide that leaving Penn State is best for his career, it's hard for me to see that dragging out past the early signing period, which this year starts on Dec. 15.

Those schools would like to have a coach in place ahead of time for their own good. LSU has eight Rivals250 players still committed. USC isn't as deep, but they have some quality players, too. Getting a coach onboard before the signing period is a big reason why they're making these moves as early as they did.

So, to answer your question, I don't really see rumors specifically impacting the class. These recruits have access to James everyday. They can talk to him about this as much as they'd like. As long as he's here, I expect basically all of these guys to sign. A decommitment or two can never be ruled out between now and then, but you get my point.

Rather, if he did leave, I find it hard to believe that it wouldn't be before Dec. 15. And yes, that would have a major impact on the class.

I'll finish with this: while I do believe that Franklin wants more buy-in from the university when it comes to its commitment to building the best football program it possibly can, I also believe that he genuinely cares about the program, cares about his players, his coaches, etc. In fact, I don't believe that, I know that. Not to mention, it's not fun uprooting your family. His daughters have been here a long time now.

So, I'm still in the boat that Franklin will be the head coach of this program come 2022. But, I also think these two openings are enticing because they offer the sort of buy-in he's searching for.

In the end, all of this talk may be a good thing. We've seen projects get kickstarted due to talk of him leaving in the past, and although the upgrade to Lasch is a great start, there's still more to do if Penn State is going to keep up with its peers.

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Is the 23’ gonna have big names and elite talent like the 22’ class? @cmcg926

It depends on what your standards are. What's elite talent to you? To me, it's four-star players. I would assume that may be too broad for some fans though. Many see it as just five-star players.

Right now, I don't see a ton of Rivals five-star players that are realistically leaning this way. Rivals will end up having about 30 five-stars by the time it's all said and done. QB Dante Moore, DT Jason Moore and OL Chase Bisontis all rank right around the top 30. I think Penn State is off to a great start with Moore, but I need to see more from the other two.

Penn State already holds one commitment from an elite offensive lineman in Alex Birchmeier, while its other two commits also rank among the top 250. To me, that's elite.

But there are so many other top prospects that they're off to an excellent start with. Out in Western Pa., both Ta'Mere Robinson and Rodney Gallagher have visited Penn State more than any other school so far. Both are top 100 prospects. QB Jaden Rashada has paid his own way to fly across the country from California twice since July. How many times have we seen any West Coast prospects come out this way on their own dime, let alone a top quarterback prospect? I can't really think of any.

I can just keep naming four-star players who have visited already if you want. Obviously, I can't predict the future, but I do think the staff has laid a very good base for what they could potentially accomplish in the Class of 2023. Just since the start of the season, we've seen over 40 scholarship prospects visit Penn State. That number climbs substantially if you include the summer.

They're also winning on the field, which is so important. I think this program has a lot going for it right now. There's no reason for me to think they can't put together another class next year than ranks somewhere around the top 10.

What’s the odds of Jordan Allen flipping? @TaeCity__

Word trickled out earlier this week that Jordan Allen was considering an official visit to Ole Miss this weekend for the game against LSU, but that's not happening now. Allen did take an unofficial visit to LSU earlier this month.

LSU is the school that intrigues me. The current staff hasn't offered Allen and it's hard for me to see that happening now with the staff about to change. However, he's been open with the media about growing up a big LSU fan. From talking to some people, I got the impression that a big reason why he wanted to go to Ole Miss this weekend was to watch LSU as much as anything else.

I will be curious to see if whomever takes charge of that program offers Allen. Like I said above, I'd be shocked if that job isn't filled in early December, giving the new staff an opportunity to fill holes. If Allen got an LSU offer, I could see him flipping.

Just like many of you grew up loving Penn State, that's LSU to him.

Which recruits plan to start at PSU in January? @daveasencio

I hit on this a few weeks ago, but I see it asked almost weekly, so I'll circle back and include it again. As of now, the players I expect to enroll early include:

QB Drew Allar

QB Beau Pribula

RB Nick Singleton

RB Kaytron Allen

WR Kaden Saunders

TE Jerry Cross

OL JB Nelson

OL Drew Shelton

DT Zane Durant

CB Cam Miller

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