Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1520787
6 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M T he buzz this offseason pointed toward a landmark shift in college football. The spring transfer portal window, essentially open season for those wishing to test this new version of free agency, had been built up to be next in the long line of evils that would end up killing the sport. Like every iteration of those evils be- fore it, however, this did not mean the end of college football. In fact, it was a flat-out dud. Coaches and player personnel direc- tors alike expected the worst. Sure, there's a world where players would test the limits for the best available financial situation. After all, it's been long overdue. But this was to be the pendulum swinging back and wiping out the framework that's been built over the last 80 or so years. It turns out that, even without much in the way of leadership from the sport's govern- ing body, rocking college football to its core would take more than a 15-day window in late April. A ban on intraconference transfers in the SEC — which was looking as though it might be one of the few rules enforced in the NIL era — spooked players and kept some of the rumored moves from happening. The wave of impact players leaving never got be- yond a groundswell. Penn State, roughly 10 scholarships above an 85 cap that doesn't really matter much anymore with creative accounting, had a moderately ac- tive winter transfer portal window. The Nittany Lions brought in a pair of SEC cornerbacks to boost a room that saw three starters move on. They also added a pair of former five-star pros- pects from Pennsylvania in senior wide receiver Julian Fleming and redshirt junior offensive tackle Nolan Rucci. The jury remains out on their impact in 2024, but the safe bet is that they'll be more like contributors than stars. So, the Nittany Lions prepped for the spring window. Attrition is common this time of year, and most of Penn State's eventual departures were ex- pected. Senior wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith, the team's leading pass catcher from 2023, would be the first to depart, doing so at the end of spring practice. By the time the win- dow closed, seven PSU scholarship players had made the jump. Lambert-Smith and rising sopho- more King Mack were the biggest hits, by far. Lambert-Smith, whose 2023 fizzled out with just 2 catches over his final four games as a Nittany Lion, will attempt to revive his career at Auburn. To give a sense of where the market was in the spring, he was considered the top available wideout in the portal according to On3. Mack, on the other hand, is one that will sting a little more as time goes by. A big get for the Nittany Lions out of South Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Mack was slated to be the fourth man in a Tom Allen defense that will play three safe- ties a lot this year. He was penciled in as almost certainly a starter in 2025 but instead entered the portal on the final day of the window. Mack landed at Alabama and will try to break into the rotation in coach Kalen DeBoer's first season in Tuscaloosa. Penn State went looking for a few seat-fillers in the window. While it looks as though the Nittany Lions will come up empty-handed in their efforts to find a No. 1 wideout and some depth at linebacker and safety, the issue they ran into is that nothing out there significantly moved the needle at any position of need. Teams left looking to fill holes in the spring window found themselves, for the most part, out of luck. So, for the Nittany Lions, what you see heading into the summer is what you'll get for the most part in the fall. There are holes that will need to be filled by development rather than re- placement. New offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki's reputation is that of a coach who has done more with less talent. While that's a bit exaggerated when comparing Penn State to his pre- vious stop at Kansas, it will be put to the test with a group of unproven play- makers at wide receiver. Expectations may take a step back from last year's preseason high, but the Nittany Lions are still talented enough to make a run at the 12-team playoff. ■ Penn State made all its offseason transfer additions in the winter, bringing in players such as senior receiver Julian Fleming, formerly of Ohio State. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL Portal's Spring Opening Was No Window Of Opportunity JUDGMENT CALL O P I N I O N SEAN FITZ S E A N . F I T Z @ O N 3 . C O M