It’s a busy week for James Franklin and his Penn State program, to say the least. Amid the preparation for the Big Ten Championship against Oregon is Wednesday’s early signing day. And this year, with the elimination of the national letter of intent (NLI) program, will bring novel circumstances to the welcoming period for college football’s incoming group of freshmen.
What has changed, what will national signing day look like and who is set to join the Nittany Lions?
THE CHANGES
There are two major novelties of this year’s national signing period, set to run from Wednesday to Friday. The first is the time of year. Typically, early signing day has been scheduled for late December, but this year it’s been moved up three weeks. That’s in an effort to balance the recruiting calendar and the opening of the transfer portal window, which will open on Monday.
The second major change has to do with the elimination of the NLI program. No longer do recruits have to sign a binding letter of intent with the programs they’ve selected. That’s been replaced by a financial aid agreement, which will be used as a contract related to revenue sharing brought forth by the impending House settlement.
This settlement, which is set to be finalized on April 7, will pay around $2.8 billion in damages to former and current college athletes. It will also institutionalize a system in which programs can pay their athletes over $20 million annually, beginning next fall.
Once an athlete signs their aid agreement, other programs are forbidden from communicating with them. However, because this agreement is not binding like the NLI, recruits are able to decommit at their discretion.
WHAT SIGNING DAY WILL LOOK LIKE
What’s typically an event that lasts over five hours is projected to be much shorter in 2024. That’s because Franklin has a game to prepare for. A very important one at that. If all 26 members of Penn State’s 2025 recruiting class sign on time, Franklin is likely to chat with them and each of their parents over a streamed broadcasted.
In a normal year, assistant coaches would join in on the festivities, offering some nuggets of information on each prospect. Instead, it’ll be just Franklin for the morning portion. In the afternoon, general manager of personnel and recruitment Andy Frank, recruiting coordinator for personnel and recruitment Alan Zemaitis and director of player personnel Kenny Sanders will meet with the media and offer more background on each player.
“I’ll be involved with signing day with the recruiting staff, but none of the assistants will,” Franklin said. “Typically, we’ve all been involved, but with this being in-season, that’s gonna be hard to pull off, so I’ll step away from game planning for maybe an hour or so to welcome the recruits and their families into our family, but that’s really about it.”
THE CURRENT CLASS
After flipping three-star tight end Brian Kortovich from Purdue on Tuesday, the Nittany Lions’ 26-member class currently ranks No. 17 nationally by 247Sports. The top three rated recruits in the class are cornerback Daryus Dixson (Calif.), offensive lineman Malachi Goodman (N.J.) and Jabree Wallace-Coleman (Pa.).
The top storyline in this class likely revolves around the arrival of four-star linebacker LaVar Arrington Jr., the son of one of Penn State’s all-time greatest players. Arrington, ranked No. 337 nationally, will join Goodman and represent the Nittany Lions in the Navy All-American Bowl on Jan. 11.
FLIP TARGETS
Of the recruits the Nittany Lions have pushed to flip over the past few weeks, five stand out significantly: defensive end Zahir Mathis (former Ohio State commit), quarterback Bryce Baker (North Carolina), tight end Andrew Olesh (Michigan), cornerback Brandon Finney (Oregon) and wide receiver Quincy Porter (Ohio State).
Baker, who visited Penn State this past weekend, has already announced he’ll delay his decision for another week. Mathis, meanwhile, said he won’t be signing in the early period, meaning his decision may not come until regular signing day on Feb. 5. Olesh is also expected to take extended time in deciding whether he’ll decommit from the Wolverines.
Then there’s Finney and Porter, both of whom are expected to sign on Wednesday. Finney was in attendance for the Nittany Lions’ win over UCLA on Oct. 5 and has been projected by On3 to flip his commitment from the Ducks. It remains unclear whether Finney, who attends Penn State pipeline McDonogh (Md.) will follow through.
Porter, on the other hand, was in attendance for the White Out on Nov. 9. He has yet to show anything major toward flipping his commitment, but time will tell.
