So the final results are in for Penn State’s Class of 2021. And they’re … not great, at least not by recent standards. The Nittany Lions’ 16 signees gave them the 21st-best class in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings, representing the program’s lowest ranking since 2014, when James Franklin wrapped up the 24th-ranked class in just his fourth week on the job.
When you consider not so much the circumstances but just how many different people were involved in assembling that class, though, it becomes a little more impressive.
This past week, tight ends coach Tyler Bowen took a job with the Jacksonville Jaguars, becoming the 13th Penn State assistant to leave the program – willingly or otherwise – since the end of the 2015 season. His replacement, former Nittany Lion offensive lineman Ty Howle, became the program’s sixth new assistant coach since the end of the 2019 season. Of the eight assistant coaches who came with Franklin to State College from Vanderbilt in 2014, only Brent Pry remains (as does Terry Smith, who was not with them at Vanderbilt but joined the Penn State staff that year).
