What Penn State’s Matt Campbell strongly prioritizes in recruiting

Penn State is shifting its recruiting strategy to a home game in June after more than a month on the road. Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell will host his first set of official visit weekends in June as committed and non-committed prospects make their way to Happy Valley, some for the first time.

Penn State enters June with the nation’s sixth-largest recruiting class, according to the 247Sports compositeand still holds first place in the Big Ten. Most of Penn State’s 20 committed prospects will take official visits in June. This also applies to some programs key uncommitted prospects. And a few of those commits are scheduled to visit other programs and wells.

So what kind of final pitch will they get at Penn State? Campbell still positions itself as a program builder that recruits fit rather than rank-and-file prospects. He is disciplined with his message and budget, explaining to players how they fit into the program rather than the opposite.

Campbell will also pitch development to the players and their families during the official visits. Penn State is certainly negotiating revenue sharing and NIL terms with players and agents, but during the visits, Campbell wants to show them their future.

“We have a process,” Campbell said. “We know what we are looking for in the transfer portal and must use that to continue to add to our football team. But no one will be able to develop our student-athletes and our high school football players better than us.

‘We have proven that every step of the way. I guess you can ask that [former Iowa State players] Brock Purdy, Breece Hall, David Montgomery, Will McDonald. You flash, the stars, that’s cool on Signing Day, but winning football games on Saturday is what we’re all about.

“That’s development. We’re going to have to be better than anyone else in college football. The financial aspect I think is certainly unique. One of the great things we have here is the sacrifice we have to make.” [Athletic Director] Pat [Kraft] and his team have made sure they are competitive at the highest level, so you have the opportunity to build the best team.

“Now I think sometimes in college football we can get lost in the financial aspect of it. Do I think it’s important? Absolutely. But I think the reality is that can’t be the No. 1 priority.”

Campbell has a recruiting ally as a head coach Terry Smithwho took some recruiting road trips with Campbell during the winter evaluation period. Smith said Campbell continues Penn State’s old recruiting ethos.

“It’s character-driven,” Smith said of Campbell’s recruiting strategy. “You know, it’s something that Penn State’s culture has been built on forever. A long way back to Rip Engle and coach [Joe] Paterno, we’re going to recruit a certain kind of kid that fits us. That’s a kid who is academically minded, wants to play soccer at a high level, but school still matters. We still recruit kids like that, and just the fit is more important than the talent, and that’s the same culture right now.”

Campbell has another ally in General Manager Derek Hoodjer, who joined the State College head coach from Iowa State. Hoodjer was helpful in building Penn State’s 2026 roster this offseason by balancing its budget between retention and the portal.

However, Hoodjer said Penn State will focus primarily on high school recruiting as part of the roster building and development process.

“I think we always want to sign a big high school class,” Hoodjer said. ‘That will always be our philosophy. And I think the root and core of our program will always be high school recruiting and development.

College football has now gotten to the point where, like you, you have to be prepared and ready to respond to whatever happens. You don’t know exactly who will be on your team in a year’s time. It’s impossible to fully say, ‘Hey, this guy is a sophomore. I’m sure he’ll be there again next year.’ It’s tough, so our belief system will always be to recruit a big high school class that we think can be the foundation for the future, develop those players and then replenish the team in the portal as needed.”

Penn State will have three weekends in June to pitch recruits before the summer dead period begins. How will Campbell start? With this bottom-line pitch.

“I want young men who want to be here at Penn State and win championships at Penn State,” Campbell said. “That’s where it has to start.”

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