STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The conversations that transpired between Penn State defensive recruiting coordinator Terry Smith and head coaches at some of Philadelphia’s powerhouse high school programs in the past year can best be described by those involved as brutally honest.
What Penn State once thought it could achieve in the talent-rich Philadelphia region was being hampered by what some high school coaches said was the Nittany Lions waiting too long to offer scholarships to some of the region’s top prospects.
“At the end of the day, when we went to Philly, we hadn’t recruited Philly great. You know, we just hadn’t,” Smith said. “… Some of those kids were having a hard time because they’d have an offer from Georgia and yet they don’t have an in-state offer from Penn State.”
Whether they commit or not, players often remember their early scholarship offers. To some, it’s a sign that a coaching staff believed in them early on, much like new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich did with 2022 QB commit Drew Allar. Even as Allar’s profile rose, Yurcich’s longtime pursuit mattered to Allar. That early belief is one of the biggest reasons the Ohio standout plans on one day running out of the Beaver Stadium tunnel.
Philadelphia-area high school coaches relayed the late-offers issue their players had with Penn State to Smith. After a 2021 recruiting cycle in which 12 of the top 13 players in the state in the 247Sports Composite — four of whom were from the Philadelphia region — headed elsewhere, Penn State was open to changing its approach to recruit Philadelphia.
Smith is a former Penn State wide receiver who was the head coach at Gateway High School near Pittsburgh from 2002 to ’12 before spending one season on the Temple staff in 2013. James Franklin assigned Smith to recruit Philadelphia along with graduate assistant and North Philadelphia native Deion Barnes. Penn State put one of its best recruiters and a graduate assistant with a plethora of connections to his home city in place to try to make amends and create an open dialogue with high school coaches.
More than the relationships with the prospects or with the high school programs, Smith now believes waiting to offer was Penn State’s biggest deterrent in the state’s most talented region.
“There’s a hard line of when you offer a prospect. Do you offer them too soon? Too late?” Smith said. “It’s hard. If you offer a kid too soon, then later in their senior year you don’t really want that prospect, how do you get out of it? That affects relationships. So it was a fine line because we wanted to be late rather than early, and as we talked to those guys and communicated more with the coaches and all the handlers in Philly, they thought it’s better to come in early on our guys. So, we changed our philosophy. And, man, it’s made an impact immediately.”
The top 2023 prospect in the state, safety Rahmir Stewart of Imhotep Charter, has held a Penn State offer since Jan. 9, 2020, the same day Georgia offered him. Expect to see earlier offers going out well beyond that as PSU looks to make a favorable early impression even in 2024.
A bounce-back season on the field would help with that impression, as does a 2022 class currently ranked No. 1 nationally in the 247Sports Composite. While much will change between now and the early signing period in December, this class still has pieces to become one of the best Penn State has signed in the modern recruiting era. A part of the success with that class dates back to when this staff identified and connected with these prospects.
“The relationships that have been built with that ’22 class started early,” said Taylor Stubblefield, Penn State’s offensive recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach. “I think that that’s probably the biggest thing that I can see is just, we’ve literally had relationships with these recruits for a long time.”
The top player in Pennsylvania this cycle, Enai White of Philadelphia’s Imhotep Charter, does not have Penn State among his four finalists, but the Nittany Lions have commitments from La Salle College High School linebacker Abdul Carter and Northeast edge rusher Ken Talley. Getting a foot in the door at these places and having dialogue is of the utmost importance.
This push for success in Philadelphia will only be magnified as Greg Schiano and nearby Rutgers get in the mix with the likes of Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Florida, Texas A&M and Cincinnati — all schools that regularly are recruiting the area. Rutgers picked up a commitment from four-star linebacker Anthony Johnson this cycle, as the Neumann Goretti prospect picked the Scarlet Knights over Alabama, Auburn and Oregon.
“I’ve had the same cell number for 20 years, so if (high school coaches) got an issue, they’ll call me and I got no problem answering that call and we’ll talk it out,” Schiano said last month at Big Ten media days. “… I really believe when you recruit, you recruit the entire community. You don’t just recruit the player, the coach. You better understand the whole structure, however you wanna call it, in that community. Who are the important people to know? Who are the important people who can give you the information you need to have?”
While Penn State is getting better at getting that information in Philadelphia, it also might have to one day figure out what to do if the result of too many early offers leads to a class being too full too soon. The 2022 class has verbal commitments from 24 players with room for “maybe one, two or three” more players, according to Smith. The Nittany Lions get to be ultra-selective with a class with this much talent.
“We talk about numbers, but I know this: We’re not going to pass up on a great player,” Stubblefield said. “Coach Franklin does an unbelievable job communicating to the recruits and the families that we’re going to be loyal to you and we expect you to be to us. That’s that whole commitment process (and surrendering other official visits once they commit to Penn State). So we are committed to our guys. And, if there is a great player, we typically leave a little bit of wiggle room so that we can add him.”
Said Smith: “Coach Franklin always tells us to make him make tough decisions. So as a recruiting staff, we’re gonna keep recruiting and hopefully we get some more and have some tough decisions.”
(Photo of Terry Smith: Matthew O’Haren / USA Today)
What Penn State once thought it could achieve in the talent-rich Philadelphia region was being hampered by what some high school coaches said was the Nittany Lions waiting too long to offer scholarships to some of the region’s top prospects.
“At the end of the day, when we went to Philly, we hadn’t recruited Philly great. You know, we just hadn’t,” Smith said. “… Some of those kids were having a hard time because they’d have an offer from Georgia and yet they don’t have an in-state offer from Penn State.”
Whether they commit or not, players often remember their early scholarship offers. To some, it’s a sign that a coaching staff believed in them early on, much like new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich did with 2022 QB commit Drew Allar. Even as Allar’s profile rose, Yurcich’s longtime pursuit mattered to Allar. That early belief is one of the biggest reasons the Ohio standout plans on one day running out of the Beaver Stadium tunnel.
Philadelphia-area high school coaches relayed the late-offers issue their players had with Penn State to Smith. After a 2021 recruiting cycle in which 12 of the top 13 players in the state in the 247Sports Composite — four of whom were from the Philadelphia region — headed elsewhere, Penn State was open to changing its approach to recruit Philadelphia.
Smith is a former Penn State wide receiver who was the head coach at Gateway High School near Pittsburgh from 2002 to ’12 before spending one season on the Temple staff in 2013. James Franklin assigned Smith to recruit Philadelphia along with graduate assistant and North Philadelphia native Deion Barnes. Penn State put one of its best recruiters and a graduate assistant with a plethora of connections to his home city in place to try to make amends and create an open dialogue with high school coaches.
More than the relationships with the prospects or with the high school programs, Smith now believes waiting to offer was Penn State’s biggest deterrent in the state’s most talented region.
“There’s a hard line of when you offer a prospect. Do you offer them too soon? Too late?” Smith said. “It’s hard. If you offer a kid too soon, then later in their senior year you don’t really want that prospect, how do you get out of it? That affects relationships. So it was a fine line because we wanted to be late rather than early, and as we talked to those guys and communicated more with the coaches and all the handlers in Philly, they thought it’s better to come in early on our guys. So, we changed our philosophy. And, man, it’s made an impact immediately.”
The top 2023 prospect in the state, safety Rahmir Stewart of Imhotep Charter, has held a Penn State offer since Jan. 9, 2020, the same day Georgia offered him. Expect to see earlier offers going out well beyond that as PSU looks to make a favorable early impression even in 2024.
A bounce-back season on the field would help with that impression, as does a 2022 class currently ranked No. 1 nationally in the 247Sports Composite. While much will change between now and the early signing period in December, this class still has pieces to become one of the best Penn State has signed in the modern recruiting era. A part of the success with that class dates back to when this staff identified and connected with these prospects.
“The relationships that have been built with that ’22 class started early,” said Taylor Stubblefield, Penn State’s offensive recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach. “I think that that’s probably the biggest thing that I can see is just, we’ve literally had relationships with these recruits for a long time.”
The top player in Pennsylvania this cycle, Enai White of Philadelphia’s Imhotep Charter, does not have Penn State among his four finalists, but the Nittany Lions have commitments from La Salle College High School linebacker Abdul Carter and Northeast edge rusher Ken Talley. Getting a foot in the door at these places and having dialogue is of the utmost importance.
This push for success in Philadelphia will only be magnified as Greg Schiano and nearby Rutgers get in the mix with the likes of Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Florida, Texas A&M and Cincinnati — all schools that regularly are recruiting the area. Rutgers picked up a commitment from four-star linebacker Anthony Johnson this cycle, as the Neumann Goretti prospect picked the Scarlet Knights over Alabama, Auburn and Oregon.
“I’ve had the same cell number for 20 years, so if (high school coaches) got an issue, they’ll call me and I got no problem answering that call and we’ll talk it out,” Schiano said last month at Big Ten media days. “… I really believe when you recruit, you recruit the entire community. You don’t just recruit the player, the coach. You better understand the whole structure, however you wanna call it, in that community. Who are the important people to know? Who are the important people who can give you the information you need to have?”
While Penn State is getting better at getting that information in Philadelphia, it also might have to one day figure out what to do if the result of too many early offers leads to a class being too full too soon. The 2022 class has verbal commitments from 24 players with room for “maybe one, two or three” more players, according to Smith. The Nittany Lions get to be ultra-selective with a class with this much talent.
“We talk about numbers, but I know this: We’re not going to pass up on a great player,” Stubblefield said. “Coach Franklin does an unbelievable job communicating to the recruits and the families that we’re going to be loyal to you and we expect you to be to us. That’s that whole commitment process (and surrendering other official visits once they commit to Penn State). So we are committed to our guys. And, if there is a great player, we typically leave a little bit of wiggle room so that we can add him.”
Said Smith: “Coach Franklin always tells us to make him make tough decisions. So as a recruiting staff, we’re gonna keep recruiting and hopefully we get some more and have some tough decisions.”
(Photo of Terry Smith: Matthew O’Haren / USA Today)
