James Franklin didn’t quite recruit on Ohio State’s level, but Penn State was consistently one of the most talented teams in the Big Ten and in the country. Now, as the program sheds Franklin’s putrid record against top competition, it also dismantled his pipeline of talent to Happy Valley.
Penn State’s top 2026 recruits have been under siege since Franklin’s dismissal, with many of them flipping or just outright de-committing from the program to pursue other options. The latest flips came on Tuesday night as three-star defensive lineman Isaac Chukwurah announced his commitment to Miami, less than a month from the start of the early signing period, and three-star offensive tackle Jack Fuchs committed to Northwestern.