How Penn State’s Class of 2016 stacks up

Penn State’s Class of 2016 may have lost some momentum, but how does it compare against the competition?

Penn State’s Class of 2016 is now signed, faxed, and official. In addition to the four early enrollees on campus, Penn State added to its newest batch of recruits without a tremendous amount of drama, although the loss of a four-star safety on signing day to Stanford stung a bit. The class is highlighted by five-star running back Miles Sanders and addresses some depth concerns on both sides of the line of scrimmage and continues to restore the program to a healthy position. It is still a work in progress, and the time for using the rebuilding excuse is quickly approaching its expiration date. The 2016 season will be an important one, but before the page is turned to the Class of 2017, let’s see how Penn State’s class ranks.

National Ranks

As has typically been the case, Alabama took home the recruiting national championship this year, claiming the top spot in the final team rankings from 247 Sports, Rivals and Scout. No real surprise here.

No. 1 Classes for 2016 according to:

247 Sports: Alabama
ESPN: Florida State
Rivals: Alabama
Scout: Alabama

— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) February 4, 2016

Before taking a look to see how these services ranked Penn State, it is worth mentioning Ohio State and Michigan all finished in the top six of each service’s final rankings. In each case, the ranks and distance between the two rivals varies, but the Buckeyes finished ahead of the Wolverines each time. As far as the Big Ten is concerned, Ohio State and Michigan were largely in a world of their own in this recruiting cycle. So, how did Penn State compare?

• 247 Sports: 20
• ESPN: 18
• Rivals: 23
• Scout: 22

Putting these numbers together, Penn State can rest knowing it secured a consensus top 25 recruiting class. 247 Sports’ composite ranking — which combines multiple rankings from various services — actually bumped Penn State up to No. 19, so you can feel free to say Penn State has a top 20 class. Not too bad, but the narrative many will focus on will be the slide Penn State took coming down the stretch. The loss of Andrew Pryts to Stanford on signing day is a factor in that slide. So was losing Lavert Hill (to Michigan) and Karamo Dioubate (to Temple) as well as recruiting developments like Quinn Nordin ending up at Michigan despite an earlier commitment to Penn State.

There are two sides to evaluating Penn State’s class on a national scale. The Nittany Lions still ended up adding some good, quality depth at multiple positions with a nice crop of four-star players. The rankings will suggest Penn State is lining up a potential opportunity to compete for a Big Ten title, but it is still out of reach of being a national title contender. That being the case, this is a nice building step recruiting class, regardless of the misses along the way.

Big Ten Ranks

Ohio State once again took top honors in the Big Ten, followed by Michigan. Then it is up for debate. Did Penn State edge defending Big Ten champion Michigan State, or did the Spartans pull ahead? That depends which recruiting service you choose to use.

As you can see, Penn State and Michigan State are pretty much neck and neck in the pecking order, and there is no significant difference overall between the two. This suggests Penn State, for the second straight year, has assembled a fine recruiting class under James Franklin that should lead to building a legitimate Big Ten challenger. And that is the key. The bar has been raised with two straight top-three recruiting classes within the conference, so now the development of the talent comes into focus.

Penn State vs. Pitt

I won’t go through the recruit by recruit results between the two Keyston State recruiting rivals, but here is how the recruiting services compared Penn State and Pitt:

• 247 Sports: Penn State +11
• ESPN: Penn State +13
• Rivals: Penn State +7
• Scout: +5

There is a bit of a range of opinion on the rankings of Penn State and Pittsburgh, but each recruiting service agreed Penn State had the upperhand between the two in terms of the overall team rankings. Did either team dominate the state?

Penn State secured the top two recruits from Pennsylvania according to the 247 Sports composite rankings with running back Miles Sanders (out of Pittsburgh, coincidently) and offensive guard Michal Menet. Pittsburgh landed the No. 3 recruit from the state, cornerback Damar Hamlin. Penn State landed another top 10 player with center Connor McGovern, but Karamo Dioubate got away and landed at Temple. So Penn State claimed a 3-1 edge among top 10 recruits from the state. However, Pittsburgh did add four more in-state recruits in the top 20 with Aaron Mathews, linebacker Kaezon Pugh, cornerback Therran Coleman and safety Bricen Garner and a top 25 player with defensive tackle Rashad Wheeler. Penn State picked up another top 20 player as well with Shaka Toney out of Philadelphia. So the top 25 recruit score actually favors Pittsburgh, 6-4.

So there are a few ways to look at it. Pittsburgh spread out the recruiting victroies within the state, but Penn State landed the majority of the cream of the crop recruits from inside the state borders.

Penn State in Maryland

With a coaching change at Maryland, the Terrapins were fighting a bit of an uphill battle at the end of the recruiting cycle. That ultimately was good news for Ohio State, but Penn State did lure the top-rated recruit from just below the Mason-Dixon Line with defensive end Shane Simmons. Penn State also picked up three more four-star commitments with defensive tackle Ellison Jordan, linebacker Cameron Brown and cornerback Zechariah McPhearson. Considering the circumstances, Maryland’s class wasn’t all that bad, but it is safe to say Penn State thrived in the state a bit more.

Penn State in New Jersey

Penn State crushed it in New Jersey a year ago. This year it was Michigan leading the way by landing some of the top players from the state, including consensus No. 1 recruit Rashan Gary. Michigan ended up plucking five four-star players out of the Garden State, while Penn State was able to secure just one, offensive tackle Will Fries. Like Maryland, Rutgers was dealt a short hand with a coaching change, leaving little time to get things in order. Penn State letting so much New Jersey talent get to division rivals is rough, especially with all the players heading to Michigan, but it was clear Rutgers has no grip on the top in-state recruits. A total of 10 of the top 15 players from New Jersey are heading to Big Ten schools, but just one of those is going to Rutgers.

Final Thoughts

Penn State did just fine for itself in the second full recruiting cycle under James Franklin, but now the focus needs to be on improving the development of the talent coming in. As I have always said, you can bring in all the potential talent in the world but if you cannot develop that talent you are doomed to fail. Look no further than Brady Hoke. Hoke brought in a couple of good classes initially but struggled to develop that talent before things went south at Michigan. This will be a critical year for Penn State to reverse that trend because Michigan is roaring back, Ohio State is not letting up and Michigan State does not appear to be backing down either. Competition is good, and Penn State is building a team that should start being more competitive soon enough.

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