Ultimately, the way we view James Franklin's tenure at Penn State could fall at the feet of the 2022 class.
It's no secret that James Frankin's tenure at Penn State has reached a crossroads of sort.
After helping rebuild the program to perennial top-10 contender, highlighted by a Big Ten conference championship in 2016, Franklin and program have seen their momentum stall out in recent years. The Nittany Lions are just 11-10 over the last two seasons.
But that hasn't kept the Penn State administration from committing its long-term future to the polarizing head coach, signing him to a 10-year, $75 million contract just last month with additional assurances regarding salary pools and program updates.
Now, it's time for Franklin to hold up his end of the bargain. While that will ultimately be judged by his on-field results, it begins with his off-field program build and, in particular, a 2022 recruiting class that is expected by many to be the foundation which the Penn State program stands on the next to four or five years.
The cornerstone of the 2022 class is, as many know by now, elite Ohio quarterback Drew Allar. Allar has flown up the Rivals rankings over the last two years and could well give Penn State something it hasn't had in the James Franklin-era, a program-changing level of quarterback akin to the likes of Deshaun Watson at Clemson and Joe Burrow at LSU. In modern college football, a quarterback with the potential of Allar is a necessity for any team hoping to get over the hump.
Franklin and co. surrounded Allar with plenty of talent on offense, too. Whether it's up front with Rivals250 offensive tackle Drew Shelton and the No. 4 JUCO player in the nation J.B. Nelson, in the backfield with Gatorade National Player of the Year Nicholas Singleton and fellow Rivals250 back Kaytron Allen, or on the perimeter with a glut of receiving weapons led by Kaden Saunders and Anthony Ivey, the Nittany Lions won't lack for talent on offense.
The defensive haul, highlighted by five-star defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, is impressive in its own right. During Wednesday's media availability, defensive recruiting coordinator Terry Smith raved about Philadelphia trio of Abdul Carter, Keon Wylie and Ken Talley. In the trenches, Florida product Zane Durant has Kevin Givens-esque quickness off the ball in a similar frame, while Smith and safeties coach Anthony Poindexter will have plenty of talent to coach up on the back end led by two-way standouts Mehki Flowers and Cristian Driver as well as DeMatha (Md.) product KJ Winston.
While the Penn State class currently sits at No. 6 in the nation and is likely to settle somewhere in the back end of the top-10 following February's second signing day, it rivals the 2018 class, ranked sixth in the nation and led by Micah Parsons, Jahan Dotson and Jayson Oweh, for the best in Franklin's tenure.
That 2018 class produced a pair of 2021 NFL Draft first-round picks and could have another in Dotson in 2022. It also boasted Pat Freiermuth, PJ Mustipher, Jesse Luketa and Rasheed Walker among others. The on-field results, however, were a different story for Penn State. Five-star wideout Justin Shorter and Rivals 100 running back Ricky Slade failed to produce before eventually transferring out of the program. Rivals 250 selections Nana Asiedu and Jordan Miner each never got to the field after failing health screenings before joining the program, and Parsons' final season with the program was 2019 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. For many reasons, a once extremely promising class failed to bare fruit for Penn State on the field.
With a new contract in hand, Franklin can't afford to have that be the case with the 2022 class. Not if he wants his time as the Nittany Lions' head coach to be considered a success. While a national championship is certainly not the only standard, as a lot of chips have to fall the right way for that to happen, a playoff appearance feels like the minimum bar to clear for this group. Whether Penn State can build on this 2022 class and clear that bar is yet to be seen, but it'll be an ever-present story line in the years to come.
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