Penn State reels in 11 home-state football recruits

James Franklin received plenty of attention - and some criticism - during his introductory news conference as Penn State's new head coach about 13 months ago when he said he wanted to "dominate the state" in recruiting.

On Wednesday, he came to the same podium in the Beaver Stadium press room to talk about the Nittany Lions' signed recruiting class of 2015, armed with numbers showing that he pretty much did what he said he intended to do.

"We had seven of the top 10 players in the state of Pennsylvania, the most in more than a decade," Franklin said. "When we got the job last year, there wasn't one player in the top 10 players from Pennsylvania committed to Penn State - if you can imagine that - and only one in 2013.

"We take great pride in the state of Pennsylvania. We take great pride in this region. We have tremendous respect for the teachers in this state and this region in preparing our guys and getting them ready to come to Penn State and be successful academically. We take great pride in the high school coaches and the players in this state. We think we can be very, very successful with the players from Pennsylvania and this region."

The Nittany Lions received signed letters of intent Wednesday from 22 incoming players, a class that is ranked anywhere from 12th to 15th by the major recruiting websites after late flurries from schools like UCLA and Auburn dropped them down a few notches.

Three more members of the class - offensive tackles Paris Palmer and Sterling Jenkins and quarterback Tommy Stevens - signed their letters last month when they enrolled at the university.

In all, Franklin got 11 players from Pennsylvania, five from the Philadelphia area - offensive lineman Ryan Bates and linebacker Jake Cooper of Archbishop Wood, defensive ends Ryan Buchholz of Great Valley and Shareef Miller of George Washington, and cornerback John Reid of St. Joseph's Prep. Two more came from the South Jersey side of the Delaware - wide receivers Irvin Charles of Paul VI and Juwan Johnson of Glassboro.

Franklin, who grew up in Langhorne, said it helps with in-state recruits that he and three members of his coaching staff - defensive coordinator Bob Shoop and defensive backs coach Terry Smith (both from the Pittsburgh area) and linebackers coach Brent Pry (Altoona) - are homegrown.

"I went to East Stroudsburg, which started out as a physical education teachers college in Pennsylvania," he said. "All my buddies are high school coaches throughout the state. So I think that helps. There's a rapport there. There's trust there, so I think that's a big part of it."

Franklin said another important aspect to him is the relationships that recruits build with himself and several coaches from his staff.

The coach said Penn State did not address all its needs. He said the Lions were "under our numbers at almost every position on offense" while defense was "pretty much at or above our numbers." He also said the program has two more scholarships to give out to transfers or players who had second thoughts about signing Wednesday.

"We're never satisfied," he said. "We always want more. You always want to do better. I love the class that we put together, but we're never going to be satisfied. I told these guys, we're going to go out and recruit a class next year of guys to come in and take their jobs."

The Nittany Lions also received a commitment from a transfer, offensive lineman Kevin Reihner of Scranton, who played three seasons for Stanford and will complete his eligibility at Penn State. Reihner made the announcement on Twitter. Franklin said he could not comment on Reihner.

Here is how the recruiting classes in the Big Ten were ranked nationally by scouting websites Rivals.com, 247sports.com, and Scout.com:

Team   Rivals   247sports   Scout   Avg.   

Ohio State   9   6   9   8

Penn State   15   14   12   13.7

Michigan St.   22   22   17   20.3

Nebraska   31   31   33   31.7

Wisconsin   37   34   30   33.7

Michigan   49   37   36   40.7

Illinois   45   45   35   41.7

Maryland   55   49   46   50

Northwestern   56   47   47   50

Indiana   48   51   58   52.3

Rutgers   53   54   50   52.3

Iowa   58   60   49   55.7

Minnesota   51   61   55   55.7

Purdue   66   64   62   64

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