Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1544665
6 6 M A Y 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M I don't know if Matt Campbell will bring a College Football Playoff title to Penn State. Can't say for sure if he'll surpass Rip Engle and James Franklin's 104 all-time wins to be sec- ond only to Joe Paterno on that par- ticular leaderboard. In the business of college football, the proof will always be in the pudding one way or the other. We'll find out together soon enough. With all of that said, let's focus on what we do know now that the mostly new-look Nittany Lions have wrapped up spring drills. Roughly half of the 2026 roster is made up of players who have never stepped inside Beaver Sta- dium for a real game. Nearly every non-player in the Lasch Building is a fresh face, save for a few holdovers on the coaching staff (Terry Smith and Justin Lustig, for example) in addition to some support staff (like Director of Talent Acquisition Alan Zemaitis and Director of Player Development Jordan Hill, among others). To be blunt, there is a lot we simply cannot predict about what this team will do when it finally takes the field against Marshall on Sept. 5. But we do know Campbell's vision for it. He wants tough, accountable players, ones who use manners off the field and disregard them on it while playing within the rules. Respect for others is a must. So is showing up to class, being on time, and putting in the work nec- essary to achieve the desired results. "Grow forward" is quickly becoming a Campbell-ism that his peers can replace with any number of different clichés that distill down to having the desire to get better every minute of ev- ery day. If all that sounds familiar, it should. Campbell was brought in to lead Penn State to a mountaintop that Franklin could not. But their approaches are not uncommon among those who hold the same title in the sport, nor among themselves. If you watched Campbell's first appearance on the "Penn State Coaches Show" with Steve Jones with your eyes closed, either the former or new leader of the Lions could have been talking, and you might not have known the difference. For example, Campbell said: "I think the biggest thing for me, you walk out on the practice field and you just understand. And I knew it, but I don't know. Every single day, I walk into our facility, and you see who you represent and what you represent, and then you go out on that practice field and you realize who has laid such an incredible foundation before you. And man, you see that setting, and we're a morning practice team, so you see that sun coming up, and it's breathtaking. It's like football heaven. And so I think there's just an unbelievable apprecia- tion, literally every single day we walk into the facility. "From a negative standpoint, any- time you're coming in and change is happening ... I don't know if it's negative, [but] change is hard. And so I think it takes time. It takes a daily process. Setting standards and ex- pectations in every aspect of life, and then getting people to trust and believe that those standards and expectations are going to allow you to have the op- portunity to become the best possible version of you that you possibly can be. And that's really what we've been kind of putting our time and effort into over the last four months." If you're not buying into the idea yet, allow us to run this one by you: "I think that's been what I love as a football coach — the journey of build- ing an 18-year-old young man to a 22-year-old man," Campbell said. "I still think it's my favorite thing that I get the opportunity to do. It's what I love about the mission of Penn State University, academically, socially and athletically. "My favorite thing that we get an opportunity to do is help young people chase their goals and dreams on and off the field. And it's been really reward- ing to be on this campus and watch the mission of this university and what it stands for equally." It all sounds familiar, doesn't it? Admittedly, it's getting tiresome to endlessly compare old and new. So, hopefully it's the last time we do so in this space. But it's hard to conclude the end of Campbell's first spring drills without acknowledging that his vision for the program is not that much different from the man that came before him. The approach to implementing it and the way it's communicated are, though. And it's there, Penn State and its fans will hope, that the differences lie be- tween coming up just short and com- ing out on top. ■ O P I N I O N GREG PICKEL GREG.PICKEL@ON3.COM Amid All The Unknowns, A Familiar Vision Emerges THE LAST WORD Matt Campbell made his first public appearance at Beaver Stadium when the Nittany Lions took the field for the Blue-White Practice on April 25. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS