Take Two: Issues at Tennessee, PSU's future, UNC rising

Take Two is back this week tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape.

In this story, Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

Storyline: The claims made against the University of Tennessee in a federal lawsuit that include allegations of five sexual assaults by student-athletes are worrisome and serious, but will they negatively affect recruiting?

The simple answer is no one can possibly know – especially since this lawsuit seems to be in the opening phases – but it has not hurt the Volunteers in any significant way to this point.

Tennessee landed the No. 15 class in the country this past recruiting cycle, bolstered by five-star JUCO DE Jonathan Kongbo picking the Vols on Signing Day. That was good for seventh in the SEC - solid, but nothing to write home about.

The Volunteers have yet to receive a 2017 commitment, but we’re only weeks from last Signing Day so there is absolutely no cause for alarm.

If there is some unforeseen coaching change or some shock report about the athletics program, that could play a major role in recruiting moving forward. Absent those situations, though, Tennessee should keep rolling and be in the mix for a bevy of top-flight recruits again.

First take: “Tennessee has had to answer questions about the allegations with its recruits, and whether or not it's fair, because as of now there are only allegations, it's something Butch Jones and his coaching staff is having to deal with. Will it play a part in how well they recruit this cycle? I think it's unlikely at this point for a few reasons. First, I look at Tennessee's Junior day a few weeks ago that consisted of the top instate players all choosing to be on campus (except for two that had basketball obligations) and then you can point to the expected list for Tennessee's junior day this weekend. Both have a number of top targets for numerous schools around the country.

“Beyond the current evidence of junior attendance, I point to Florida State's recruiting classes. While the Seminoles came under a massive amount of scrutiny during the Jameis Winston allegations, they put together top-10 recruiting class after top-10 recruiting class. This lawsuit is a long way from going away and there are two former Vols, AJ Johnson and Michael Williams, that will face a criminal trial at some point, but right now, I think they are in a good position to land another top class come February.” – Paul Fortenberry, Volquest.com

Second take: “It leads to more questions that Butch Jones has to answer. I’ve always said any scandal, no matter what it is, won’t affect recruiting at a high-level program unless there are sanctions that follow. They’re in the investigatory stage and if they find there is some sort of cover-up, who knows what will happen? Sanctions or a head coach being fired would affect recruiting, but right now it’s questions being asked. How safe is the campus? It makes it more difficult for Jones to recruit, but I don’t think it’s going to be a detriment to recruiting unless something big happens.” - Mike Farrell, Rivals.com National Recruiting Director

Storyline: Penn State jumped out to being one of the top handful of teams in the last team recruiting rankings, only to fall to No. 22 overall on Signing Day as some top recruits ended up elsewhere.

There is no question coach James Franklin is a terrific recruiter who has seemingly pumped some energy back into the Penn State program, but how far have the Nittany Lions come? And maybe more importantly, how much farther do they still have to go to be atop the Big Ten?

In Penn State's two seasons under Bill O'Brien, who came in under historic NCAA penalties, PSU went 15-9 and 10-6 in the Big Ten. In two seasons under Franklin, with many of the sanctions lifted, PSU is 14-12 and 6-10.

Penn State is off to a nice start in the 2017 class with two four-star prospects, including Cincinnati (Ohio) St. Xavier QB Sean Clifford, among four early commits, but with last season’s performance as evidence, not everybody is smiling in Happy Valley.

The offense was unimaginative at times and the Nittany Lions averaged just 23 points per game. There have been coaching changes brought in by Franklin this offseason, so we’ll see how that plays out.

In its own division, Penn State has to fight off Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State for players. That is a tremendous challenge. And results have to change for people to keep fully supporting Franklin’s turnaround plan.

First take: "James Franklin and his staff are excellent recruiters, so I expect them to be successful throughout the spring and summer. However, the most important thing moving forward is to show that the team is making progress on the field. If they're able to do that, I expect Penn State to have a similar class to the one they had in 2015. With that said, it won't be easy, as Penn State faces its toughest schedule since Franklin took over the program." – Ryan Snyder, BlueWhiteIllustrated.com

Second take: “They started off so well last year and then they lost a bunch of kids. When you see three highly-valued recruits, one being a 2018 kid, commit so early, the first question people ask me is, 'How do they keep these guys?' The upcoming season will determine quite a bit how Penn State recruits view the program because they’re clearly fourth in their own division. They struggled last year, they’re still recovering from the sanctions and building depth on that roster. A lot of people want to know if James Frankin is a great recruiter and not a great coach, or can he do both? He can do both. He did it at Vanderbilt. … I don’t think he’s intimidated being in the same division as Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State, but he’s got to start winning this year.” - Farrell

Storyline: Larry Fedora has turned a corner at North Carolina with a phenomenal product on the field coupled with turning in a great recruiting class last cycle.

The trick now is to keep it going.

The Tar Heels lost to Clemson in the ACC Championship and then Baylor in the Russell Athletic Bowl, but they had a great season and then finished with the No. 23 recruiting class in the country, third in the conference behind Florida State and Clemson.

The best of news of all, maybe, is that North Carolina is off to a fantastically hot start in the 2017 recruiting class with five out of six commits as four-stars, including three of the top four players in the state pledged to the Tar Heels already.

UNC could be a “sleeping giant” in the ACC. But it’s never easy getting to the top with FSU, Clemson and others right there.

First take: “I think to UNC fans, and really in terms of the direction the program wants to go, competing with Clemson is more the target. That both programs recruit the loaded Charlotte area very hard plays into that, and I know the staff believes that if they can increase the rate they beat out Clemson for kids, they will position themselves to become the program to beat annually in the ACC Coastal.

“Fedora's early success for the class of 2017 really has to do with landing four of the top eight kids in North Carolina so far, whereas the program didn't get an in-state kid in the class of '16 until Chazz Surratt flipped from Duke on June 28 last summer. The most obvious reason is that talk by in-state media of more NCAA sanctions has essentially died, because the program is confident it will not be punished this time around, and also because the trajectory of the program - hiring Gene Chizik, winning 11 games, scoring at near-record setting rates - is appealing to prospects. Carolina sells itself to an extent, but actually having a lot of tangible evidence that football is headed in the right direction makes the pitch a much easier sell.” – Andrew Jones, TarHeelIllustrated.com

Second take: “I was trying to think of the sleeper team in each conference and I kept going back to what North Carolina did in recruiting and on the field this past year. They’ve always been to me a sleeping giant in the ACC. They have the facilities, the academics and the recruiting territory, but no one has been able to put it together other than Mack Brown about 100 years ago. They’re a team to watch on the recruiting trail this year and next year, especially if they have similar success. We all know Florida State and Clemson are going to recruit lights out, but who’s going to be that third team in the ACC? It could be North Carolina again.” - Farrell