A reporter at Big Ten Media Day asked Urban Meyer and Mark Dantonio about the alleged negative recruiting accusations Penn State coach James Franklin made regarding Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State .
Urban Meyer on negatively recruiting against Penn State: "Absolute not … I'll address that with Coach Franklin if I have to."
— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) July 26, 2016
According to one uncommitted recruit, the Nittany Lions and Franklin have been the only school to negatively recruit:
Just got a DM from father of a 4* prospect. “We’ve visited (OSU, UM, MSU and PSU) – the ONLY person that negatively recruited was Franklin."
— Jeremy Birmingham (@Birm) July 26, 2016
Here’s the likely quote from Jame Franklin that appeared in an interview with ReadingEagle.com.
Q: How would you describe the challenge of being in the same division with Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State?A: Like most things in life, there are some real positives about it. We’re able to tell kids they’re going to compete against the very highest level week in and week out. What makes it tricky, they’re not having to deal with some of the things we’re dealing with and working through, which magnifies it. Those programs as well as others know that and use that against us. We have that conversation with every single prospect. We don’t usually initiate it, but it’s coming from somewhere.
I just spoke to James Franklin. Said separate quotes were taken out of context & he never accused MSU, OhioSt or Mich of negative recruiting
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) July 26, 2016
Here are Meyer, Dantonio, Harbaugh and Franklin photographed together:
This sums up today nicely (Via @TaylorRooks) pic.twitter.com/JhJtUb08B6
— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) July 26, 2016