Despite Online Reaction, Matt Campbell's Leaked Penn State Recruiting Speech Was a Positive

Penn State coach Matt Campbell’s recruiting pitch went viral this week after a prospect's parent posted a video of Campbell speaking to visiting athletes before the White Out game against USC. 

Campbell has drawn online backlash for telling recruits that, “this is College Football Town USA,” and that State College is not Austin, Texas, or Columbus, Ohio, “where you’re just part of it.”

But Campbell said Wednesday he wasn’t aware of what part of his recruiting pitch had been leaked online but echoed the same message he used Saturday night in meeting with recruits and their families.

“The reality of my message has never wavered from what we're looking for in the right student-athletes to come play for us at Penn State,” Campbell said Wednesday after practice. "And so from my end, it's always been about the three values of great character young men, passion for the game of football and guys that really, really understand the value of an education.

"So if that resonates with the right people, then we'll be just fine as we continue to move ourselves forward.”

Penn State is in the midst of a three-game losing streak as it heads to Michigan for a battle of head coaches seeking their first Big Ten win. So it was certainly an interesting time for Campbell’s speech to get leaked. 

Alfie Burch, the father of Asa Burch, a 4-star recruit from Ohio, posted the video to his X account. In a follow-up post on the social-media site, Burch explained his decision to upload Campbell’s recruiting pitch. 

“The video I shared is showing the vision and unwavering commitment to a man’s principles and priorities,” Burch posted on X. “As a parent of a 4-star recruit, I want to hear that more than I [want] to hear about football. 

“With over 30 years of working with young athletes and preparing them for college and pro sports, what has been defined by Coach Campbell of his 3 things he looks for in a recruit is the type of things that will keep recruits coming and keep parents like myself and my wife interested in Penn State. [It] is not the White Out or uniforms, it is the vision that makes all that happen. Big shout out to Coach Campbell from the Burches.”

A 'really positive' recruiting weekend

In the video, Campbell stays true to his values. As he has done consistently since becoming Penn State’s head coach, Campbell identified the values he seeks when recruiting high school players.  

He also said that, “what we’re about is developing the whole human.” Those messages haven’t changed since Campbell recruited players at Iowa State, tight end Gabe Burkle said. 

Defensive end Caleb Bacon echoed Burkle’s sentiment about Campbell’s messaging. Bacon mentioned how his head coach is a “through-on-through guy with the same message every single day, trusting the process.” 

That’s important for a lot of high school players and their families: making sure the coaches recruiting them stay true to what they said, and knowing what they’re going to get heading into a school possibly hundreds of miles away. 

“All I remember from really recruiting is just the relationships that he promised that I would build in college, and how important this time is in your life,” Burkle said Wednesday of his recruiting process. “So surrounding yourself with the right people is really important. And I obviously felt like he and his whole staff are the right people, and that's why I stuck with him.

“... I think the staff and Coach Campbell does a really good job of understanding that an 18-year-old is not very mature, and he's definitely not as mature as he's going to be at 23, and so that process of growth in between those years is super important, and it kind of just affects the direction of your life after college for sure.”

More than 100 prospects attended the Penn State White Out game vs. USC, which Campbell called a “really positive weekend from that standpoint."

“I think absolutely seeing that environment, watching that environment, watching our football team grow, I think are all things that were positive,” Campbell said. “Certainly winning football games still matters. We've not been naïve to say that. I think from our end of it, our recruiting staff did an incredible job. It was great to have so many great families here Friday, Saturday, even Sunday, into Sunday night. I thought it was huge for us.”

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