Just when you thought it could not get any worse for the Penn State Nittany Lions and head coach Matt Campbell, the struggling program received some unfortunate news during the team’s bye week.

Campbell’s first season with the Nittany Lions is off to a nightmare start, as his squad has lost all four of their conference games to begin the 2026 college football season. And while Penn State continues to deal with adversity on the field, the poor start to the regular season is beginning to take a toll on their 2027 recruiting class.

According to Rivals’ Hayes Fawcett on Sunday afternoon, 2027 three-star linebacker Blake Betton has flipped his commitment from Campbell and the Nittany Lions to the Wisconsin Badgers.

Penn State’s 2027 Recruiting Class

Betton, who committed to the program back in April, was one of the newest recruits to join Campbell’s 2027 class. As of this month, the talented defender is the No. 4 prospect in the state of Minnesota, as well as the No. 35-ranked linebacker in the 2027 class, per 247Sports’ Composite.

Shortly after being hired by the Nittany Lions in December of 2025, Campbell quickly hit the recruiting trail and offered Betton. The coaching staff was familiar with Betton, as he received an offer from Iowa State in May of 2025. This led the three-star linebacker to take multiple unofficial and official visits to State College throughout the offseason. Betton would then eventually announce his commitment to the Nittany Lions on April 11.

However, while Campbell and his coaching staff were closing in on the Minnesota native, Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell and his staff were in the rearview.

The Badgers offered Betton during the 2025 college football season, and despite no reports of him taking a visit to Wisconsin, he would officially flip his commitment to the fellow Big Ten Conference program just one weekend after the Nittany Lions’ devastating road loss to the Michigan Wolverines in Week 7.

Now, with Betton out of the picture, Penn State’s 2027 recruiting class possesses a total of 21 hard commits, according to 247Sports. The group features the likes of multiple talented four-star defensive prospects, including cornerback Kei'Shjuan Telfair and defensive lineman Stanley Montgomery.

Betton’s flip to Wisconsin now leaves Campbell with one linebacker commit in four-star Case Alexander, so look for the coaching staff to pursue another linebacker to replace Betton in the consensus top-20 recruiting class.