Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542734
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 6 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M depart than Penn State's 46 were Okla- homa State (64) and Iowa State (54), with the latter seeing just under 20 percent of last year's roster follow Campbell to State College. One of the concerns these numbers raise is that Penn State lost much of a roster that was assembled to compete at college football's highest level and has re- sponded by investing heavily in players who lack the four- and five-star pedigrees of their predecessors. The rebuttal, of course, is that those elite predecessors went 7-6 last season. The roster needed to be overhauled any- way, the argument goes, especially with the team's 2026 recruiting class falling apart after Franklin was fired. In this sce- nario, the influx of Iowa State players was a quick fix that got Penn State's numbers back to where they needed to be, with the added bonus of giving Campbell a chance to recreate the team culture he had developed in Ames— a culture that transformed the Cyclones into perennial overachievers who went 19-7 in his last two seasons. If it all goes to plan, the newcomers will buy Campbell and his staff some time to establish relationships with high school coaches in PSU's traditional recruiting territory and take a more conventional approach to player acquisition starting with the 2027 cycle. Only two lead po- sition coaches (Terry Smith, Dan Con- nor) and one coordinator (Justin Lustig) have been retained from Franklin's staff, and the newcomers are primarily from the Midwest and West Coast. This year's 39-man portal class is all but certain to be an outlier no matter what, but to truly decrease its reliance on transfers, the new staff must build the kind of relationships the previous staff enjoyed. The ultimate goal is to couple Camp- bell's eye for talent and penchant for player development with Penn State's winning tradition and access to elite pros- pects. Becht, for one, sees that as a realis- tic possibility. "We were listening to Coach Campbell talk yesterday, and something about him changed," the veteran quarterback told ESPN. "He's got the resources and people behind him and a program behind him to do what he wants to do — compete for a national championship." ■ QUARTERBACK Name Elig.** Ht. Wt. Transferred To Ethan Grunkemeyer R-So. 6-2 207 Virginia Tech Bekkem Kritza R-Fr. 6-5 195 TBA Jaxon Smolik R-Jr. 6-1 205 Temple RUNNING BACK Jabree Coleman R-Fr. 6-0 212 South Carolina Tikey Hayes R-Fr. 5-11 205 TBA Corey Smith R-So. 5-10 189 Toledo WIDE RECEIVER Josiah Brown R-So. 5-11 180 TBA Tyseer Denmark R-So. 5-10 190 Virginia Tech Jeff Exinor Jr. R-Fr. 6-1 216 Virginia Tech Anthony Ivey R-Sr. 5-11 191 San Jose State Matt Outten R-Fr. 6-1 215 Syracuse Kaden Saunders R-Sr. 5-10 184 Southern Miss TIGHT END Matt Henderson R-Fr. 6-5 246 Virginia Tech Andrew Olesh R-Fr. 6-5 236 Oregon Luke Reynolds Jr. 6-4 253 Virginia Tech Joey Schlaffer R-Jr. 6-5 250 Temple OFFENSIVE LINE Alex Birchmeier R-Jr. 6-5 312 Liberty Eagan Boyer R-So. 6-8 302 Florida Brady O'Hara R-Fr. 6-6 293 TBA T.J. Shanahan Jr. R-Jr. 6-4 315 Florida Michael Troutman III R-Fr. 6-2 308 Virginia Tech J'ven Williams R-Jr. 6-5 319 Charlotte DEFENSIVE END Chaz Coleman So. 6-4 246 Tennessee Zuriah Fisher R-Sr.+ 6-3 259 USC Cortez Harris R-Fr. 6-3 245 Virginia Tech Jaylen Harvey R-So. 6-2 246 North Carolina Daniel Jennings R-Fr. 6-1 257 Virginia Tech Mylachi Williams R-So. 6-3 246 Virginia Tech DEFENSIVE TACKLE Randy Adirika R-Fr. 6-3 308 Virginia Tech Kaleb Artis R-Sr. 6-4 312 Temple Xavier Gilliam R-So. 6-2 300 Tennessee Owen Wafle R-So. 6-2 292 Duke Enai White R-Sr. 6-5 280 TBA LINEBACKER Amare Campbell Sr. 6-0 230 Tennessee Kari Jackson R-So. 6-1 240 Toledo DaKaari Nelson R-Jr. 6-3 233 NC State Anthony Speca R-So. 6-1 223 Purdue Keon Wylie R-Sr. 6-2 225 Virginia Tech CORNERBACK A.J. Harris Sr. 6-1 186 Indiana Elliot Washington II Sr. 5-11 201 Clemson Kenny Woseley Jr. R-So. 5-10 180 Virginia Tech SAFETY Antoine Belgrave-Shorter R-So. 6-0 198 Arizona State Dejuan Lane Jr. 6-2 206 Tennessee King Mack Sr. 5-10 193 NC State Lamont Payne Jr. R-Jr. 6-0 192 TBA Braz Thomas R-Fr. 6-2 202 TBA PENN STATE TRANSFER PORTAL TRACKER OUTGOING PLAYERS* Receiver Chase Sowell totaled 32 catches for 500 yards and 2 touchdowns in his first season at Iowa State fol- lowing a transfer from East Carolina. He was named the Big 12's Offensive Newcomer of the Year in 2025. PHOTO COURTESY IOWA STATE ATHLETICS