Top Penn State Recruit Kevin Brown Reacts to James Franklin Firing: “I Don’t Know What to Think”

By Luke Brown 

It’s been a disastrous couple of weeks for Penn State football, and now, the University has announced a change in leadership and fired James Franklin, effective immediately.

It’s Penn State’s first head coaching change since 2014, and the state of the program puts recruits in a tough place, deciding whether they should stay committed or not.

“I don’t know really what to think,” said Kevin Brown, the Nittany Lions’ second-rated prospect in the class of 2026, in an exclusive interview with Sports Talk Philly. “I’m just taking it slow, taking it one day at a time, waiting to see what’s next.”

This was supposed to be the season for Penn State football. A plethora of players skipped their NFL Draft eligibility to come back and win a National Championship. Now, the plan to “run it back,” has completely backfired with a 3-3 record, an injured quarterback, a fired head coach, and no light at the end of the tunnel with visits to Iowa and Ohio State coming, followed by Indiana at home.

“He’s sort of what holds Penn State together,” said Brown. “Now that he’s gone, I just got to wait and see if it falls apart.”

Brown recognizes that fans and anyone involved in Penn State football placed a lot of value on winning the White Out game against Oregon. Frankly, he agrees that it was must-win.

“As they should,” he said, addressing the outside pressure placed on Oregon. “They (needed) to win that game. It was one of the games they needed to win and they lost it. There’s not much more to it.”

When Brown, the ninth-ranked offensive tackle in the country, talked on the phone on Sunday afternoon, he had just gotten off the phone with Penn State offensive line coach Phil Trautwein. “I just said I was here for him,” Brown said. “He said he was here for me. He wanted to tell me where he was. Not much to it.”

Brown committed to Penn State on July 27. 2024. He’s currently rated 93 on 247Sports and is the third-rated player – regardless of position – in the state of Pennsylvania.

Brown certainly was not firm in whether he plans to stay committed to the program or decommit and find greener grass somewhere else.