Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1545007
1 8 J U N E / J U L 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 T hings are slower for Ryan Barker and most of his Penn State team- mates these days. One of college football's most reliable players finished his 2025 season, which was his second as the team's starting place- kicker, as perfectly as he started it. The Landenberg, Pa., native made all three boots, including one from 48 yards out, in the Nittany Lions' 22-10 win over Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl. It put his season-long mark at 18 of 19 (94.7 per- cent, which is a Penn State single-season record) on field goal tries. He was also 44 of 45 on extra points. All told, Barker, who is now a redshirt junior, tied New Mexico State's Luke Drzewiecki for the best field goal per- centage in the country. That made other teams interested in whether or not he might enter the NCAA transfer portal. After all, every college football team can use an automatic kicker, which Barker has been over his last two seasons as the Penn State starter. With a new head coach coming to town and possibly a new special teams coordinator (though that did not end up being the case), Barker did indeed weigh his options. At the end of that process, he decided staying put was the right decision. "I think for me, individually, disre- garding the university and the coach- ing situation, I knew where I wanted to be, and that was here," Barker said. "And so that kind of just took off that little bit of stress for me go- ing into the offseason with the process of figuring out what I was going to do. "So, the question that I just needed an answer to was what Coach [Matt] Campbell thought of me. Because at that point, after the Pinstripe Bowl, I hadn't really spoken to him about that stuff specifically, so to be able to have that conversation and then get the answers that I needed after that, it was pretty much a no-brainer." In a statement announcing his return, he added a note about how much Penn State means to him. The former walk-on earned a scholarship in 2024. Back then, he was fresh off beating USC in overtime to help eventually propel the Lions to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Now, he's entering what could be his final col- legiate season. "This place means more to me than I can put into words," Barker wrote on social media. "I'm incredibly grateful for everything the university has done for me and for the role it has played in my journey up to this point. With that be- ing said, I am excited to announce that I will be returning to Penn State for the 2026 season to continue this incredible journey." 'He Wants To Be Here' It was not as easy a decision for special teams coordinator Justin Lustig to choose THE SURE THE SURE THING THING In uncertain times for Penn State, kicker Ryan Barker has been a pillar of reliability — on the field and off G R E G P I C K E L | G R E G . P I C K E L @ O N 3 . C O M Since taking over the starting position early in the 2024 season, Barker has been nearly auto- matic, hitting 33 of his 37 field goal attempts. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/ PENN STATE ATHLETICS