Across the past two seasons of transfer portal activity, a clear philosophy has begun to emerge for James Franklin at Penn State. The 11th-year head coach of the Nittany Lions is using the portal to atone for his biggest in-state recruiting misses, and that could land the Nittany Lions a 6-foot-5 245-pound former four-star edge rusher from Philadelphia.
Last season, two of Franklin’s biggest portal additions were former No. 1 overall recruits in Pennsylvania, Julian Fleming, the top high schooler in the 2020 class, and Nolan Rucci the best 2021 PA product. Now, Franklin is honed in on Texas A&M transfer Enai White, a former four-star from Imhotep Institute in Philly, who trained under Penn State defensive line coach Deion Barnes.
White is coming off a lost season in 2024, recovering from a torn ACL. A 2022 recruit, White has two seasons of eligibility remaining after playing just nine snaps this season, and would fill a need for the Nittany Lions. Barnes will be losing many of his biggest contributors along the D-line to graduation this offseason and Abdul Carter, the best edge rusher in the country, will head for the NFL after a dominant junior year. White could play immediately opposite Dani Dennis-Sutton as four-star true freshman Max Granville develops into a significant role in his redshirt freshman season.
The homecoming plan has yielded mixed results thus far. Fleming had an underwhelming final college season, catching just 14 passes this year. However, Rucci, who lost the starting right tackle job to Anthony Donkoh out of fall camp, has stepped in as the starter following Donkoh’s Week 13 injury and played exceptionally well against Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game.
When White entered the portal, he drew interest from SEC powerhouses Georgia and Ole Miss, but his only scheduled visit is to Happy Valley, so he’s expected by many to commit to the Nittany Lions in the coming days.
Penn State has not gone all in on the transfer portal as many other program have, and so far Franklin has avoided the year-to-year volatility that some of those other head coaches have. This offseason, he's taken a slightly more aggressive approach, targetting USC transfer Bear Alexander, and elite wide receivers, but if Franklin continues to suppliment his roster with talented players like White who are looking for another chance closer to home, and filling needs as he has with Hudson, Penn State will remain in national title contention. Still, if there is ever a year to go all-in, it's for the final season of Drew Allar's career, so there could be more signficant movement coming.