Notre Dame football is already looking like they could take advantage of Penn State’s decision to fire James Franklin
Penn State opted to fire head coach James Franklin over the weekend. That presents a huge opportunity for Notre Dame on the recruiting trail.
After a couple of disastrous weeks, the Penn State Nittany Lions made the decision to part ways with long-time head coach James Franklin. With that decision, Penn State is now tasked with finding the new face of their program heading into the future. This puts a momentary halt on the operation, and leaves things a little cloudy for now.
With how much a head coach means to a program, the Nittany Lions are sure to have some roster turnover over the next several months. You will also see an impact on the recruiting trail immediately, which has already started. Penn State has had several talented recruits opt to decommit recently, putting themselves back on the market to see the options out there.
That includes 2027 McKeesport (Pa.) High School running back Kemon Spell, who is an elite prospect in that class. He decommitted from Penn State over the weekend, and Spell had been wavering for some time now. This felt like a move that could happen even if Franklin remained as the head coach moving forward.
The Notre Dame push for Spell
Notre Dame has been, and will continue to be, the main team to know for Spell. There is going to be high demand for the elite playmaker, but there had been a relationship building with the Fighting Irish staff for some time now. In fact, he was already scheduled to visit South Bend this weekend for their matchup against the USC Trojans. Spell will now make that trip as an uncommitted target.
Besides the natural attraction to the Irish program, the Pennsylvania native also has a great relationship with Notre Dame running back coach Ja’Juan Seider. Spell was previously committed to Coach Seider while he was with the Nittany Lions, and that relationship has been paying off big time with Spell so far. Notre Dame should be the team to beat right now, although they will have to win out against some extremely impressive programs.
Spell is currently ranked as at least a four-star recruit by each of the major recruiting platforms. On the 247 Sports Composite ranking, Spell is pegged as a five-star player, and a Top-10 overall player nationally. He sits as the No. 8 overall player, the No. 1 running back, and the No. 1 player in the state of Pennsylvania for the 2027 recruiting class on that class ranking.
Even with that previous early commitment to the Nittany Lions, a long list of impressive programs had continued to pursue Spell heavily. Some of his top offers so far include the Fighting Irish, Georgia, Ohio State, Tennessee, Michigan, Oregon, Florida State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and UCLA among several others.
As a sophomore in 2024, Spell put together a remarkable season for McKeesport. The 5-9, 205-pound runner managed to rush for 1,681 yards and 24 touchdowns on the year, while averaging an absurd 10.7 yards per carry. Spell also averaged nearly 14 yards per carry as a freshman on his way to 517 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns in 2023.
Spell is currently putting together an even better season for McKeesport so far as a junior. He has had a couple of games right around 300 yards rushing, and just scored six touchdowns this past week against Mars. This is an elite player who has the ability to score every time he touches the football. His high rankings are no accident, and Notre Dame is certainly high on everything Spell brings to the table.
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