Penn State mailbag: How will 5-for-5 impact PSU? What’s going on with recruiting?
July is here, which means it’s time for a new monthly mailbag. Plenty has happened in the month since our last mailbag, with updates to NCAA eligibility, a rollercoaster recruiting month for football and stadium updates.
As always, if you have questions in the future, you can send them to jsauber@centredaily.com. Let’s get into this month’s questions.
How do you think the new NCAA eligibility rules will affect PSU football or other athletic programs? -Ed H.
How about a quick assessment of the five-year rule and its possible impacts on the men’s basketball roster? -Lucas M.
This was a common theme this week with the new five-for-five ruling coming down from the NCAA that gives athletes five years to play, eliminating redshirts.
Essentially, athletes will have their eligibility clock start when they either graduate high school or turn 19 years old, whichever happens first. There’s still some murkiness with current athletes and those coming in this year because they can apply for either the old system or the new system, whichever benefits them most.
With football specifically, the new rule should give some key players an additional year of eligibility including (but not limited to) — safety Marcus Neal, cornerback Zion Tracy, running back Carson Hansen, tight end Ben Brahmer, wide receiver Brett Eskildsen, guard Cooper Cousins, defensive end LaVar Arrington II, cornerback Daryus Dixson, and defensive end Yvan Kemajou.
Not all of those players will use the extra year, but they will have the option if Penn State can do enough to entice them to stay.
There’s still some clarity necessary to know specifically how it will impact athletes coming from overseas (this is especially important for men’s basketball), but my current read is that future European players will basically be able to play through their age 24 season. That could change — this is the NCAA after all — but it’s my current interpretation.
Question about recruiting, why has Penn State struggled in recruiting under Matt Campbell? Can he compete in the Big Ten with his current recruiting level? -Corey S.
This has also been a common theme over the last month with Penn State losing top wide receiver targets Deshawn Hall (committed to Auburn) and Jamir Dean (committed to Georgia) to SEC schools. But I also think people should pump the brakes on the struggles and how important they will actually be to the long-term health of the program.
Recruiting has changed drastically in recent years with the legalization of NIL and revenue sharing. Teams are operating within a budget and need to allocate their money wisely, or else they’ll struggle to consistently field competitive teams — and may end up developing players just for them to leave for the portal before they see production. This is no different than professional leagues where finances rule the day — and it’s probably most similar to Major League Baseball, where there is no salary cap.
The way I see it, and I think the way the Penn State staff sees it, is that it makes much more sense to allocate money to get players who will produce right away. Why spend seven figures on a high school player who may not see the field until year two or three when there’s a pretty good chance they’ll end up entering the portal before they even get there? That’s not to say Penn State won’t prioritize high school recruits. They absolutely will, and development will be key in that regard. But they won’t end up in bidding wars for players who aren’t going to produce quickly.
And while I don’t think Penn State is going to turn into Ole Miss or Texas Tech when it comes to the portal (they don’t have the financial might to do so), I do think this staff will be much more active than James Franklin was in that regard.
A question for the average Penn State football fan: Would you rather have a $700 million renovated Beaver Stadium or $700 million go to NIL over the next 10 years resulting in one National Championship? -Steve A.
While the premise of this is interesting, I think it’s a false equivalency. The nearly $700 million for Beaver Stadium is not money that was ever going to be available for NIL because of how Penn State is paying off the project. And even if it was, there still would have been a large portion of it that would have had to go to necessary stadium maintenance.
And the money that theoretically could have been available (the outside money donated for the stadium project) was not likely to be, based on conversations I’ve had around the program. Those who donated that money were specifically interested in donating to the stadium and would not have made that funding available in NIL to help build the roster.
While it’s a fun thought experience, it’s not necessarily a realistic one. That being said, if it were possible to choose, I think most people would happily take the championship. Though I’m not discounting the portion of the fan base that would take their chances on winning one anyway while also getting a more enjoyable gameday experience.
