Matt Campbell came to Penn State with his starting quarterback for 2026. That was crystal clear the moment Rocco Becht hopped into the transfer portal and became a Nittany Lion. What’s becoming clear at his first fall camp in Happy Valley, however, is that his 2027 starting QB may have made the trip as well.
Compared to Becht, 2025 four-star Alex Manske was an afterthought in a 39-player portal class for Campbell and general manager Derek Hoodjer. That became even more true of the other Iowa State transfer quarterback when he spent the spring back home recovering from a medical condition.
Now, Manske is back healthy at fall camp, his head coach can’t stop raving about him, and he might just be the heir apparent.
Matt Campbell saw Alex Manske as a top-4 QB in the 2025 class
At Big Ten Media Days, Campbell called it a “monumental win” to have Manske back with the team. On Friday, at his first press conference of fall camp, Campbell harkened back to Manske’s recruiting, calling his commitment a “monumental win.” This time, he shed a bit more light on why he felt so strongly.
“If you go back and really understand what Alex Manske was out of high school, you could probably say that he was one of the top three quarterbacks to four quarterbacks coming out in his class,” Campbell told the assembled reporters, responding to a question from Lions247’s Daniel Gallen. “There wasn’t many perks of being at Iowa State in terms of recruiting regionality, but one of them was Alex Manske,” he said of the Algona, Iowa native and lifelong Cyclone fan.
The recruiting industry wasn’t quite as high on Manske as Campbell and general manager Derek Hoodjer. He was rated as a four-star by 247Composite, but only the 25th quarterback in a class that included Michigan’s Bryce Underwood and Alabama’s Keelon Russell.
But recruiting boards differ from program to program. Penn State fans learned that from this regime when it backed off four-star Peter Bourque and went all-in to land three-star Will Wood in the 2027 class. And it’s reasonable to give Campbell and his staff the benefit of the doubt at this point after hitting on Brock Purdy and Rocco Becht.
It seems that Manske checks every box for Campbell, who highlighted his athleticism, his “elite arm talent,” and his mental capacity at the position. Still, why was it a “monumental win,” as Campbell keeps saying about his second-year QB? “Because we felt he was the quarterback of the future.”
Setbacks haven’t derailed Alex Manske’s path to Penn State heir-apparent
During his senior year of high school, Manske had the same elbow injury that Purdy suffered in the 2023 NFC Championship Game. It required surgery and forced him to miss his first spring with the Cyclones. Yet, he still caught up to speed enough to serve as QB2 behind Becht and appear in four games.
Then, Manske missed his first spring at Penn State with an undisclosed issue, and yet Campbell is encouraged with his progress, to say the least. “He’s playing as good of football in the last two days as we’ve witnessed Alex Manske play in his entire career.”
If he keeps progressing that way throughout the season with whatever amount of game reps he gets, Penn State can feel good about its quarterback situation for 2027 and probably 2028, for that matter. And if the most important position is set, Campbell and Hoodjer can direct their attention and their resources toward building a championship-caliber roster around him.
That’s the best-case scenario for this program rebuild, and if you listen to Campbell, it’s not just a dream; it’s his plan.
Add us as a preferred source on Google