The Penn State Nittany Lions are still up-and-down in football recruitment, welcomed a new coach to women's hockey, are getting praise for a football postseason run, and are representing the wrestling team on the world stage. Here's what's new in Happy Valley.
Penn State football gets its first July commitment, but at the cost of some losses
Three-star offensive tackle Marlen Bright committed to Penn State on July 5. The class of 2026 recruit is from Wayne, N.J. and is the No. 567 overall recruit. Bright is also the No. 47 offensive tackle and No. 8 New Jersey student-athlete. The Nittany Lions beat out Illinois and West Virginia to land the recruit.
However, Penn State had to wait patiently for this verbal commitment.
One of its highest priority targets, five-star plus Immanuel Iheanacho, announced his commitment to Oregon on July 3. Head coach James Franklin was hoping his proximity pitch would land well with the rising senior. Then on July 4, four-star tight end Brayden Fogle opted to take his talents to Georgia. This left the Nittany Lions with one tight end to their class of 2026 roster, but Pierce Petersohn is still a valuable player for Penn State.
Women's hockey hires new assistant coach Moe Bradley
Penn State women's hockey introduced a new member to its staff: assistant coach Moe Bradley. Head coach Jeff Kampersal expressed his excitement to bring her onto his staff in Penn State Athletics' announcement. Bradley is coming from UMass Boston where she won 2024 NEHC Coach of the Year and coached NEHC All-Conference selections. Bradley also has coaching experience at the Division I level in the highly competitive Hockey East conference as the Boston College Eagles' goaltending coach.
Penn State football is getting praise ahead of the 2025-26 season
Despite recruitment ups and downs, the current 2025-26 roster for Penn State football has high expectations lying ahead.
The Nittany Lions are currently favored to win their White Out game against Oregon on Sept. 27. Even though they lost to the Ducks in the 2024 Big Ten Championship Game, FanDuel has Penn State favored by 4.5 points.
Beyond the regular season, too, analysts think that the Nittany Lions have all the pieces to win a title or at least get far in the postseason. Franklin's goal, and borderline expectation, is to make it to the championship game, but not everyone thinks they'll get there for a second season in a row. On3's Brett McMurphy has Penn State falling in the semifinals again as well as Bill Bender of The Sporting News.
Penn State wrestling has seven current and future Nittany Lions going to the U23 World Championships
A seven-person combination of current and future Penn State wrestlers will compete for Team USA in the U23 World Championships. PJ Duke, an 18-year-old who is committed to Penn State will also compete with the U20 team and Senior team after his shocking triumph over Yianni Diakomihalis at Final X.
The other Nittany Lions joining him on the U23 team are Luke Lilledahl, Marcus Blaze, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Levi Haines, Rocco Welsh, and Josh Barr.