Penn State Football: Second Portal Opens Soon

April 15th can be one of the most stressful days of the year, courtesy of the IRS. Penn State football will most likely experience a completely different type of stress, courtesy of the second opening of the transfer portal. For the last 15 days of April, players can elect to change colleges without any requirements to transfer.

Opening up while many schools either have or will have played their spring game, the next two weeks will be quite active. So buckle folks, it’s going to be a wild and crazy ride!

With Penn State football being right at or maybe even over the 85 scholarship limit, it would be no surprise to see a few current Nittany Lions leave the friendly confines of Happy Valley. One particular position group that could have a defection or two is the tight end room.

Wishlist of Transfer Targets

WR Jaelen Gill- Boston College

I am always looking for a way to stick it to Ohio State and I can’t think of a better way to do that than have one of their former players score against them who just entered the portal a day ago.

The 6’1″, 185-pound Gill played for the Buckeyes in 2018 and 2019 before transferring to Boston College. His career statistics are 87 catches for 1154 yards but only three TDs. He was also a solid contributor on special teams, averaging 21 yards per kickoff return, good enough for 5th in the ACC.

Maybe scoring against the Buckeyes might be a stretch, but hauling in a few grabs would be totally plausible.

CB Demorie Tate- Florida State

Being able to pick up former 5-star recruits in the portal is a rare thing. Whoever signs the 6’1″ 190-pound Tate will do just that. Coming out of high school as the 35th-ranked player in the country, Tate had injuries and some issues with being able to stay eligible.

There has been a little two-way pipeline between Florida State and Penn State recently. Two years ago, FSU CB A.J. Lytton headed to Happy Valley. While that move didn’t exactly pan out (he transferred a year later), these moves are never a sure-fire thing. Last year, it was the Nittany Lion’s RB Caziah Holmes heading down to Tallahassee.

This year, with Malik McClain already committing to PSU from FSU, it makes another potential move a bit easier. Having a former teammate making the move with you can smooth potential problems out. This could be one of those low-risk, high-reward investments. If he develops the skill set that many believe he has, Penn State hits a home run. If it doesn’t work out, he just moves on, much like Lytton did.

While there are many more questions than answers at this point, there is one thing that you can be certain of. The next two weeks will be a roller coaster ride of moves.

So, sit back and enjoy folks. The fun has just begun.