Penn State Football lands transfer portal RB John Lovett from Baylor

Penn State Football secured its first player from the transfer portal Monday, Baylor running back John Lovett

Penn State Football has landed Baylor transfer running back John Lovett.

Lovett, who was rumored to the Nittany Lions since entering the portal earlier this month, made it official Monday.

The New Jersey native was a target of Penn State back in the 2017 cycle, but opted to head to Baylor. He had a successful career there, rushing for 1,803 yards on 355 carries with 17 touchdowns. That’s an average of just over five yards a carry.  He added 29 catches for 183 yards and a score.

Lovett is a bigger back, listed at 6 foot and 212 pounds on Baylor’s roster. He is a power runner like Noah Cain and Keyvone Lee, so he fits in to the system well. He’s not a burner, so Caziah Holmes and Devyn Ford are still Penn State’s home run hitters out of the back field.

Although Penn State is considered deep at the running back position, this is a smart grab by coach James Franklin. Cain may not be ready to go until the Summer at least, as he recovers from his season ending injury, Ford played sparingly down the stretch of the season and Lee and Holmes will be just sophomores in 2021.  Brining in an experienced veteran is a good move.

Penn State also doesn’t have a running back commit in their 2021 class, so they were looking at just four scholarship running backs next season. We saw this season how quickly a talented, five deep running back room could turn into two true freshman, and that happened in a nine game season, next year should be the normal 12 game schedule.

Lovett becomes the most notable transfer of the James Franklin era, replacing kicker Jordan Stout for that title. The transfer portal isn’t something has used during his tenure at Penn State. Director of player personal, Andy Frank, said during a National Signing Day press conference last week that the program will be more aggressive in the portal than in years past.

Lovett is a start, but he probably won’t be the end. The Nittany Lions may still be looking for an offensive tackle, a safety, a defensive end and most notably, a quarterback.