It would be an understatement to say the WPIAL has been an important recruiting territory for Penn State through the years. The district has produced some of Nittany Lions’ biggest stars — Paul Posluszny, Sean Lee and Jesse James are a few recent examples.
Despite that history, coach James Franklin has looked elsewhere almost entirely in building a 2018 recruiting class currently ranked No. 2 nationally by Rivals.com. None of the 20 prospects who’ve given pledges so far are WPIAL players, and with only a handful of spots remaining, it’s possible the district will be shut out of sending a player to Happy Valley in this cycle.