Vanderbilt Recruiting Struggling Without Franklin

Last Saturday, James Frankin left Vanderbilt to become the new head coach of Penn State. His departure comes at a time when things were finally starting to come together for the Vanderbilt Football Program.

In three seasons at Vanderbilt, Franklin compiled a 24-15 record with 2 bowl wins. Even recruiting was going well, with the Commodores ranked 29th in the ESPN RecruitingNation class rankings on Jan 9th. But all of that has changed since Franklin left. Per ESPN...

quote:

---

Since Franklin left Vanderbilt to become Penn State's head coach last Saturday, the Commodores have lost seven commitments and are down to just 12 verbals in their 2014 class. On Jan. 9, Vandy ranked 29th in the ESPN RecruitingNation class rankings. As of Thursday, they are out of the rankings altogether.

"Losing seven commits, including ESPN 300 quarterback Kyle Carta-Samuels, right before signing day is devastating for Vanderbilt," ESPN recruiting analyst Derek Tyson said. "A lot of times, recruits will take the wait-and-see approach when a coach leaves, but it was obvious how important Franklin was to these recruits. Three former Vandy commits, Brendan Brosnan, Lloyd Tubman and Chance Sorrell, switched their commitments to Penn State almost immediately after Franklin left for Happy Valley."

---

Complete Story

With no head coach, and National Signing day quickly approaching, it could be a tough recruiting year for Vanderbilt.