Kemon Spell’s commitment to Georgia naturally hurts for Penn State fans, especially given how closely his recruitment once was to Happy Valley, but with the dust settling, the bigger question is whether Spell was ever a realistic option for Penn State by the time this cycle reached its final stretch.
On Monday, the elite running back from Pennsylvania announced his pledge to the Georgia Bulldogs, shutting the door on a recruitment (for now) that had already been one of the more confusing in his class. ESPN’s Eli Lederman laid out what happened, adding that after his trip to Penn State, UGA was able to get a deal done during his trip to Georgia.
“A powerful rusher from Pennsylvania's McKeesport High School, Spell was credited with 1,755 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns last fall despite missing five games of his junior season due to injury. Spell initially committed to Penn State in Aug. 2024. He pulled his pledge from the Nittany Lions last October following coach James Franklin's departure from the program and subsequently made an unofficial visit to Georgia in the final weeks of the regular season. He also visited Penn State under first-year coach Matt Campbell in January before closing the month with a multiday trip to Georgia and giving his verbal pledge to the Bulldogs on Monday.
“Spell is the fifth of ESPN's 18 five-stars in the 2027 class to make a commitment. The 2026 recruiting cycle officially closes with Wednesday's national signing day,” he wrote.
Penn State made an effort to put itself back in the mix under Matt Campbell, hoping to fix what was broken after James Franklin was fired, as Spell was committed to PSU.
However, by the time Spell returned to campus, Georgia had already gained significant momentum. There was already a lot of noise about UGA and other programs around the country landing him before he made the decision to decommit from Penn State.
That doesn’t mean Spell was never serious about Penn State, as his original commitment was real, and the staff turnover clearly played a role in reopening his recruitment, but I also question whether he was really all in. I still question if he’s all in at Georgia, too, but we’ll see.