Penn State’s Recruiting Class has Unraveled

The hits keep on coming for Penn State, both on and off the field. Since the firing of head coach James Franklin on October 12^th the Nittany Lions have lost another game, but more importantly have seen their recruiting classes slowly dissolve.

This continued last night when Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic safety Darrell Carey become the latest Class of 2026 decommitment. Carey had been committed since April. The Nittany Lions also saw two recent decommitments announce their commitments to other programs yesterday.

First, Middletown (Del.) Appoquinimink wide receiver Jahsiear Rogers committed to Oklahoma after a weekend official visit to Norman, Okla. Then soon after, Roanoka (Va.) North Cross cornerback Jaziel Hart committed to North Carolina. Rogers and Hart were the third former commits to find new homes, with Philadelphia (Pa.) St. Joseph’s Prep defensive lineman Alexander Haskell announcing his flip to Syracuse last week.

Other Class of 2026 players who have decommitted since Franklin’s firing are:

• CB Julian Peterson, Atco (NJ) Winslow Township
• QB Troy Huhn, San Marcos (Cal.) Mission Hills
• WR Davion Brown, Richmond (Va.) Trinity Episcopal School
• WR Lavar Keys, Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic

Some bigtime Class of 2027 players have also decommitted:

• S Gabe Jenkins, Pittsburgh (Pa.) Imani Christian Academy
• RB Kemon Spell, McKeesport (Pa.) McKeesport
• OL Layton von Brandt, Middletown (Del.) Appoquinimink

Many other Class of 2026 commitments haven’t officially decommitted but have announced that they are actively looking at other schools. This includes several scheduling visits, which are listed below:

• OL Marlen Bright, Wayne (NJ) DePaul Catholic (Washington, Illinois)
• OL Benjamin Eziuka, Novi (Mich.) Catholic Central
• OL Jack Fuchs, Hendersonville (Tenn.) Beech (Kentucky)
• RB Messiah Mickens, Harrisburg (Pa.) Harrisburg
• LB Mathieu Lamah, Nokesville (Va.) Patriot (Rutgers)
• LB Elijah Littlejohn, Charlotte (NC) West Charlotte (Georgia, Vanderbilt)
• DL Isaac Chukwurah, Bear (Del.) Caravel Academy (Syracuse)
• S Matt Sieg, McDonald (Pa.) Fort Cherry (Notre Dame, Indiana, Pittsburgh)
• CB Amauri Polydor, Baltimore (Md.) St. Frances Academy (Colorado)

There is a good chance that many of the players on this final list won’t be committed to Penn State by the time the Nittany Lions hire their next coach. Whoever is hired will need to work overtime to try and retain any of the still committed players and possibly flip a couple back.

And if this head coach is currently with another program, they will also work overtime to try and persuade some of those committed to his current schools to follow him to Happy Valley. At the end, Penn State Class of 2026 will be ok, but will have a much different look to it than it did on October 11^th.