Penn State Sports Magazine
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N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 5 2 9 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M are a couple of reasons for that, the biggest of which is that the Nittany Lions have bridged the gap with multiyear starters at a few positions during the portal era. Kobe King manned the middle for the better part of two seasons and went a long way toward solidifying numbers there, but he's with the Minnesota Vikings now. King's exit never got as much attention as that of edge rusher Abdul Carter and tight end Tyler Warren, but his decision to forgo his final season of eligibility has cre- ated a bigger hole than imagined in 2025. Last December, even before King de- clared for the draft, the Nittany Lions hosted Oklahoma State linebacker Ken- dal Daniels for a visit. Daniels profiled as a Sam in then-coordinator Tom Al- len's scheme, but Penn State could have made it work under Allen's successor, Jim Knowles. Instead, Daniels ended up at Oklahoma after a quiet recruitment and is starting for the Sooners. The subsequent transfer window pro- vided another opportunity, and there was actually a better crop available at the position following spring ball. North Carolina's Campbell and Rutgers' Mo- hamed Toure both popped up as potential options after rising redshirt sophomore Ta'Mere Robinson transferred out of Penn State in April. The Robinson dynamic is fascinating. He was probably No. 3 or 4 in the peck- ing order at that point along with Wylie and Speca. The Lions were already seek- ing depth at the position, but his depar- ture turned a desire into a need. Other linebackers in the portal included West Virginia's Josiah Trotter and BYU's Har- rison Taggart, but neither of those guys got beyond the talking stage. Ultimately, the portal isn't the reason the Nittany Lions are in their current quandary. Penn State swapped out Rob- inson's potential for a guy who became a starter in Year 1. While it remains to be seen what kind of career Robinson will have at USC, that trade has worked out well so far. Campbell has played well, and he has another year left in 2025. The biggest miss for the Nittany Lions in recent portal classes was former Mary- land linebacker Jaishawn Barham of Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore. Penn State visited him in December 2023, but it wasn't necessarily a surprise when he picked Michigan a week later; Penn State has historically struggled to recruit Saint Frances prospects. Barham has turned into a good player for the Wolverines, al- beit as more of an edge guy. As far as outgoing players go, Robinson is the biggest loss to the portal at the posi- tion. The only other noteworthy loss was Jamari Buddin, who transferred to New Mexico State and is now at Grand Valley State. Schematic Changes Adding to the challenge of building a deep linebacker corps is the fact that Penn State has had four defensive coordina- tors since the 2020 season. Each of those coaches has preferred something a little different. Brent Pry liked a balance be- tween inside and outside guys, while his successor, Manny Diaz, moved away from prototypical Mike linebackers in favor of a more athletic approach. "We really like to recruit three outside 'backers," Franklin said on signing day for the 2022 class. "And then, whoever makes sense at the end to move to Mike, we do that. You really don't want to play with an old-school true Mike on the field. You'd rather have three outside linebackers who create position flexibility." Many of Penn State's current issues — though not all — can be traced back to Diaz's two full classes. With Rojas out, none of the six linebackers signed in the 2023 and '24 classes played a defensive snap against UCLA. Two are out of the program altogether and two are injured, while Speca and Nelson are clearly re- serves at this point. The switch from Diaz's three-line- backer defense to Allen cosplaying Diaz's defense in 2024 to Knowles' 4-2-5 in 2025 has left the Nittany Lions with different skill sets and body types that are not nec- essarily conducive to playing a couple of guys in the box. Wylie and Nelson, spe- cifically, fill the old Sam role that really isn't part of Knowles' plans. Playing two linebackers naturally shaves the numbers needed at the position, but as the past few weeks have shown, the Nittany Lions may have gotten a little too close to the sun on that one. The 2023 class was very interesting. While the Lions signed four guys who would go on to be linebackers at Penn State (in some regard), it was just Rojas and Robinson for the longest time. Nelson was slated to play safety, while Kaveion Keys was a flip from North Carolina. Rob- inson eventually profiled as a Mike, but as a high school safety who missed part of "When you lose a guy like Tony Rojas, who's played a ton of football for us and was one of our better players, that's going to have an impact." J A M E S F R A N K L I N Tony Rojas is expected to miss the rest of the season with an unspecified injury he suffered following the Oregon game. Before being hurt, he was second on the team with 25 tackles. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS