Penn State Coaches Caravan

New Penn State coach James Franklin has gotten off to a strong start on the recruiting trail.

(Abby Drey/MCT)

Things have escalated in the budding rivalry between Rutgers and Penn State.

The teams have traded subtle jabs in the lead-up to their highly anticipated primetime matchup on Sept. 13 at High Point Solutions Stadium, which will double as Rutgers' Big Ten debut. But Penn State coach James Franklin took things to another level with a haymaker on Wednesday.

Speaking in Baltimore as part of Penn State's annual Coaches Caravan, Franklin made clear that he plans to own the region in recruiting.

"I consider this in-state. I consider New Jersey in-state," Franklin said, according to The Baltimore Sun. Of the schools in those areas, he said, "might as well shut them down because they don't have a chance."

It was a much more direct shot from Franklin, who had described his plan to dominate the region in recruiting during his introductory press conference in January.

Rutgers coach Kyle Flood has started referring to the Nittany Lions simply as "the team from Pennsylvania" and last week he encouraged fans to "make sure you've got a good seat" for the Sept. 13 matchup.

Rutgers players haven't been shy about their feelings toward their new conference rivals located 230 miles to the west, as starting right guard and Perkiomenville, Pa., native Chris Muller said he didn't want to talk about "the team that wears blue and white."

During a conference call Wednesday afternoon to discuss his team's continued academic success, Flood declined to respond to Franklin's comments.

"I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to talk about that stuff at a later date," Flood said.

Franklin has backed up his boasts about recruiting in his first four months on the job by landing three of the top five prospects from New Jersey in the class of 2015.

Even the recent resurfacing of a rape case involving four players while Franklin was head coach at Vanderbilt last year has had no discernible impact on his recruiting success. Franklin has assembled the second-best 2015 recruiting class in the nation, according to all of the major recruiting websites.

Franklin responded to questions about the Vanderbilt case in his first stop on the Coaches Caravan. He said he cooperated fully with authorities, but declined to get into specifics due to the ongoing legal proceedings.

Perhaps that issue will become an obstacle for Franklin as the case unfolds. But recruits don't seem affected by that or the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal that rocked the university less than three years ago.

"I wasn't bothered by the Penn State scandal because I knew they had rebounded from it really well from it and the school had more to offer me than Rutgers and other schools," Juwan Johnson, a four-star wide receiver from Glassboro who is committed to Penn State, told ESPN.com. "I just don't think Rutgers can compete with Penn State now with all that's going on."