James Franklin’s latest portal grab may be what finally gets Penn State over the hump

James Franklin said it himself after the Blue-White game, “we’re not a big portal team,” but heading into his 12th season at the helm in Happy Valley, Franklin has made some big splashes in the spring transfer portal window. On Tuesday night, he added a commitment from North Carolina linebacker Amare Campbell to plug the final hole on his roster. 

Penn State came into spring needing another wide receiver, and after Ta’Mere Robinson left for USC, another linebacker, so Franklin simply added the best available player at each position. With so much returning talent from last year’s roster, the Nittany Lions already looked capable of winning it all, but now that wide receiver Trebor Pena and Campbell are joining the fray, it’s truly championship-or-bust in Happy Valley. 

James Franklin stays red-hot in all-in offseason with Amare Campbell addition

Some see Franklin’s trip to the College Football Playoff semifinal last season as the longtime head coach getting over the proverbial hump, but without a win over Ohio State or Oregon along the way, it feels as though his program still has plenty of unfinished business. And with the roster that Franklin has assembled, if it doesn’t happen this year, it’s safe to say that it never will. 

As a sophomore, Campbell played the fourth-most snaps for North Carolina’s defense and was a silver lining on a wretched unit. The 6-foot, 230-pound off-ball linebacker recorded 76 tackles with 6.5 sacks, 23 quarterback pressures on just 59 pass rushing snaps, and forced a fumble. He has sideline-to-sideline speed and will pair perfectly next to rising junior Tony Rojas. 

Former walk-on Dominic DeLuca was slated to start alongside Rojas, but now it will be a battle for snaps throughout the summer between DeLuca and Campbell. Robinson was simply a depth piece, a reality that likely catalyzed his departure for an increased role with the Trojans, but Campbell could be a quality starter on Jim Knowles’s defense. 

Knowles is set to keep Penn State’s traditional 4-3 base defense, so there will be opportunities for all three to share the field, but more often than not, a linebacker will be taken off the field for an additional defensive back. It won’t be Rojas, so now it’s a question of which one. 

Either way, Campbell is a major upgrade over Robinson, who played just 100 defensive snaps last year. Much like Pena is a huge improvement at slot wide receiver over Liam Clifford and Tyseer Denmark. Those were the two weakest links in the Nittany Lions’ chain, and with these spring portal additions, there’s no reason that Penn State can’t win a national championship next season, unless the man who constructed this roster and built that sturdy chain is incapable of wielding it. 

In many ways, James Franklin is a victim of his own success. There wouldn’t be so many questions about whether he can win the big game if he didn’t play in so many of them. Franklin has led Penn State back to national prominence, and now, with a loaded roster and two great coordinators, the program is on the precipice of true greatness. Franklin did that, but the cruel reality is that if this team comes up short, he’ll be the one who’s held accountable.