2027 Elite RB Kemon Spell Announces Decommitment From PSU Following James Franklin Firing: Notre Dame in Play?
- Bruce Straughan
- Oct 12
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 12
In a somewhat shocking announcement this afternoon, Penn State has fired longtime Head Coach James Franklin midway through his 11+ years of leading the program following a 22-21 loss against Northwestern yesterday. Franklin's seat had been getting increasingly hot since they suffered a loss in the CFP last season in the Orange Bowl against Notre Dame. Fast forward to this year, Penn State started as a favorite to not only get back to the playoffs, but by some, as a favorite to possibly win it all this year.
Penn State started the season as the No. 2 team overall in the preseason Top 25 AP Poll, and so came the pressure for Franklin to get his team over the hump, something he has failed to do in the past, going a dismal 4-21 against Top 10 teams during his tenure at Penn State. Franklin and Penn State started off the season winning big with ease until they faced Oregon, and after suffering a 2OT loss, their next two games ended with losses to unranked UCLA and, most recently, Northwestern. That was enough for Penn State as they realized that changes had to be made and that they had to move on without Franklin, regardless of his astronomical buyout of $49 million.
One thing is for sure, and that is that Penn State, as of late, has been having no trouble landing top-tier talent, and to prove this, look no further than C/O 2027 5-Star Elite RB Kemon Spell. Spell is ranked by 247Sports Composite as the No. 1 running back in the class and the No. 8 overall recruit nationally. Spell has been committed to Penn State since August of 2024, but things seemed to be changing when it was announced that Spell would be taking visits to both Notre Dame and Georgia in the coming weeks.
Rumors swirled, and many thought that was a sign that the very talented running back was looking for a way out of Happy Valley. Things turned even more interesting when Keith Barnes, @KBarnes_PG on X (a High School Sports writer for @PGSportsNow), posted a live interview with Spell following his career-high six-touchdown performance that helped his team win 56-31 against Mars Area High School. But his performance wasn't the only big news to come out of that, as Keith Barnes asked him, "Are you still 100% committed to Penn State?" to which Spell surprisingly answered, "No, I'm not. I'm not 100% with Penn State anymore. I will be taking visits, and we'll see from there."
Fast forward to today's announcement coming out of Happy Valley that Head Coach James Franklin has been fired, and shortly after, it was announced that Kemon Spell was decommitting from Penn State and moving on with his recruitment. Was he already planning to bolt prior to Franklin being let go? That answer we may never get, but from the outside looking in, it appeared this was bound to happen whether Franklin retained his job or not.
Where this really gets interesting is that Spell currently has a visit scheduled for Notre Dame next weekend, when they take on their longtime rival, the University of Southern California, a big game no matter when or where it is played. Add to that Notre Dame's current RB Coach Ja'Juan Seider has always had a great relationship with Spell, as he was recruiting him when he was at Penn State before leaving for Notre Dame. Seider has remained close to Spell and has not let up on trying to get him to Notre Dame. Will they be able to pull it off? Only time will tell, but knowing the backstory on all this, I'd say Notre Dame definitely has the edge when it comes to Spell finding a new home.
Next weekend will be the perfect opportunity to make their mark on Spell, as Notre Dame has already scheduled one of the biggest recruiting weekends for the SoCal game that they've had in a long time. It's a who's who of top-tier talent from around the country that will be on campus for the big weekend, and a big win followed by a successful recruiting weekend could pay dividends in the recruitment of Spell.
Stay tuned for this one, Irish fans, as this story is only beginning.
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