Penn State Football: Two new transfer portal players on Nittany Lions radar

Penn State Football quick to keep tabs on All-American Safety

We wrote earlier this week about why Penn State Football should be interested in West Virginia All-American safety Tykee Smith and it seems the coaching staff is wasting no time in making that interest known.

Smith announced he would be entering the transfer portal earlier this week and 247sports is reporting that coach James Franklin, Ju’Juan Seider and other members of the Penn State Football coaching staff immediately followed the safety on twitter.

On Friday, Smiths name officially surfaced in the transfer portal meaning he is officially a free agent and the ties to Penn State Football make it almost an obvious perfect match for both sides. The Philadelphia native who attended Imhotep Institute, the high school current recruiting target Enai White currently attends.

Smith would be an ideal fit opposite Jaquan Brisker in Brent Pry’s defense, as the Philly native was a AP Third Team All-American and All Big 12 Honorable Mention selection in 2020. Last season he led the Mountaineers with 61 total tackles and added eight tackles for loss, two interceptions and seven pass breakups.

He was almost just as productive the year prior totaling 53 tackles, two and a half tackles for loss, a sack and two interceptions to go along with six pass breakups.

Safety is an area of need and concern for Franklin’s squad as right now Ji’Ayir Brown and Jonathan Sutherland look like the two who will be battling it out for starting reps. Both are solid contributors but neither are game breakers the way Smith has proven to be, and neither are legitimate NFL talents like Smith.

Pairing Smith with PFF All-American Jaquan Brisker would make for one of the most lethal safety tandems in college football.