Penn State University has embraced a new football coach. Vanderbilt University may want to choke the same coach.
USA TODAY Sports reported Monday that Vanderbilt football's recruiting class has nearly evaporated. It reported that on Saturday morning, before Penn State's announcement that Franklin had become the team's new coach, the Commodores had 20 commitments toward the 2014 season and the class was ranked in the top 25 in the country.
By Sunday night, USA TODAY Sports reported that 247Sports.com's Vanderbilt recruiting site said the school had three commitments.
"Basically, they're left with three guys that I would consider really firm commitments," said Chris Smith of Vanderbilt.247Sports.com. "A lot of them have mixed emotions. All the recruits, they all love Franklin, they all seemed to want to come to Vanderbilt because of Franklin.
"In the end, depending on how the new coaching staff is, they may be able to pull some of these guys back into the class. But it's going to be open season for Vanderbilt recruiting the next three weeks."
According to the USA TODAY Sports report, two players committed to Vanderbilt already have said they are following Franklin to Penn State, and Franklin has made offers to six other Commodores recruits to come to Happy Valley.
"I've never seen it in this volume, quite this fast, of someone trying to pillage their own commitment class for their new job," said Jesse Johnson of Rivals recruiting site VandySports.com. "Normally, you're going to have staffs take some kids. But I don't think I've seen many cases where it seems like the entire class is trying to be taken to the next job."
Verbal commitments are non-binding in college football. Recruits are locked in only after they sign national letters of intent when the signing period starts on the first Wednesday in February, which this year is Feb. 5.
The Commodores have not yet named a replacement, and with recruiting starting up again on Thursday, the team is facing time constraints to salvage what's left of their 2014 class.
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