I don't think it's a Sandusky fallout thing - 2008 was years before and 3 out of 15 four stars in PA was a thing that really hurt the program (that included missing Terrell Pryor and Jonathan Baldwin who were two of the top 13 players in the country). Hell, in 2001 they only got 1 out of 10 - this is a lot of years running. Even this year, the top two kids in the state (Kristofic from Pine-Richland and White from Harrisburg) both are going out of state. Not to say Penn State didn't have other linebackers and guards high on their board, but so much of college football is about winning your geography.
It's also about evaluating the under the radar guys in your state. Not to keep comparing to Ohio State, but they've had a lot of three star Ohio kids really pop and become great players. Pat Elflein, Darron Lee, Devin Smith, Tyvis Powell, Thayer Munford, Cardale Jones - all three star or less players who were college stars. Elflein, Lee, and Smith were all taken in the first two rounds of the NFL draft, and Munford might go that high in the next few years (started at left tackle as a true sophomore). Going back even further, AJ Hawk and Troy Smith were also "last guy in the recruiting class" types who were big hits in projection and evaluation of local talent.
Pennsylvania has kids like that. Aaron Donald. Malik Hooker. Darrelle Revis. Matt Ryan. James Conner. DJ Moore. Jon Runyan Jr. But not many of them are finds by Penn State. Posluzny and Sean Lee were really the last two guys I'd say were awesome evaluations of in-state kids who became stars without big recruiting pedigrees. I'm saying you are going to hit on every kid like that you take a risk on athletically. But Penn State doesn't seem to have a great conversion rate on those kids.
PSU has always been a tough sell especially now with a
far higher number of venues fielding competitive teams. As a kid, who ever heard of UCF, USF, Boise and many others across the country that now field competent teams including Temple that was once an absolute doormat. Many former doormats are now atleast competitive; Okla St, Nwestern, Mizzou, Ind, TCU, Hou, Minn, Pur, Wash St, Oregon, Stanford, Temple, Iowa St. All auto wins back in the day. They got that way with good players, players that used to go to LSU, Bama, Ga, OSU, Mich, FSU, Tex, Okla, Neb, Ucla, USC, Ark, Notre Dame, etc, etc; the old power base that dominated college football, almost exclusively….for years.
Today you can go to a former doormats, be in an excellent program and in some cases
play right away with a good likelihood of being on TV and going to a bowl game. These are major changes I feel dramatically altered the landscape of college football to what it is now. Competition in its varied forms drives this, allowing a kid far more options than 30 years ago. Today you do not have to sit behind Tua and Jalen.