Penn State football head coach Matt Campbell hit the Transfer Portal hard, picking up 39 players since the portal opened on Jan. 2.
ESPN deems QB Rocco Becht the 'nucleus' of Penn State's Transfer Portal activity
It was not surprising seeing Iowa State athletes follow their former head coach. Twenty-four of the 39 transfers are former Cyclones, and despite being mainly three-stars in the portal, they were critical additions to the Nittany Lions' roster.
ESPN's Craig Haubert listed Penn State in the top 10 transfer portal classes in this cycle, ranking it sixth. National analysts also weighed in on how they think the Nittany Lions' 2026 season will shape out, believing they're good enough for a Top 25 appearance.
In ESPN's Mark Schlabach's "way-too-early" Top 25 predictions, he also threw the blue and white in there. While he ranked them the lowest out of any so far, placing them at No. 22, Schlabach recognized the key additions they got out of the Transfer Portal that he predicts will push them to becoming one of the top teams in the country.
Nine of them are former Cyclones.
ESPN says nine of 10 top Penn State transfers followed Matt Campbell from Iowa State
Schlabach believes Penn State will finish with a 7-6 overall record and 3-6 Big Ten record. While that's simply a repeat of the 2025 season, expectations are significantly lower for 2026 than they were heading into 2025.
That's largely due to how many returners the Nittany Lions had that are no longer with the program, whether they entered the portal or declared for the 2026 NFL Draft. Those key losses that Schlabach named are running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, quarterback Drew Allar, defensive tackle Zane Durant, defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, safety Zakee Wheatley, linebacker Amare Campbell, guard Olaivavega Ioane, and cornerback A.J. Harris.
However, in their absence, Schlabach recognized who the key additions to the program are. He said Campbell did "an amazing job rebuilding" the team since taking over. While part of that was reigniting recruitment, another massive part was piecing together a valuable roster for the upcoming season through the Transfer Portal.
Quarterback Rocco Becht, wide receivers Chase Sowell and Brett Eskildsen, tight end Benjamin Brahmer, running back Carson Hansen, guard Trevor Buhr, linebackers Caleb Bacon and Kooper Ebel, safety Marcus Neal Jr., and defensive tackle Siale Taupaki were the 10 critical transfers Campbell picked. All but Taupaki, who is a former UCLA Bruin, came from Iowa State.
"That's going to make the transition much smoother and give the Nittany Lions a chance to surprise in 2026. Becht is experienced ... Hansen ran for nearly 1,000 yards last season, and Eskildsen, Sowell and Brahmer were Becht's top targets," Schlabach wrote. "Four starting offensive linemen have to be replaced, and Buhr ... [is a proven player]. Neal, Ebel and Bacon were highly productive at Iowa State."
The only position Schlabach pointed out as a question mark was the edge rusher room, but with the Cyclones becoming the new Nittany Lions, Campbell and Penn State are off to a good start.