James Franklin’s recruiting mantra for his 11+ years at Penn State was, “The best in PA, stay in PA.” Only in the waning years, many of the state’s top recruits left home.
Franklin managed to put together the 15th-ranked class in the country in 2025, which proved to be his final recruiting class in Happy Valley, but the group would have been much better had he protected Pennsylvania’s borders. Five of the top six players in PA left the state, and it would’ve been all six had Penn State not flipped Andrew Olesh (who is now in the portal) back from Michigan on signing day.
One of those six players was four-star linebacker Anthony Sacca from St. Joseph’s Prep. Now, after spending the last year redshirting at Notre Dame, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound son of former Penn State quarterback Tony Sacca is back in the portal, and the Nittany Lions, now under Matt Campbell, could have a second chance at the legacy recruit.
Notre Dame true freshman LB Anthony Sacca has entered the transfer portal, @mzenitz and I have learned.
— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) January 7, 2026
He ranked as a 4-star recruit in the @247Sports Composite. https://t.co/VcAmcBs3ku pic.twitter.com/yg5k1d9URF
Anthony Sacca enters the transfer portal with 4 years of eligibility remaining
Tony Sacca played quarterback for the Nittany Lions from 1988-91, appearing in 45 games over his four years in Happy Valley. After leading Joe Paterno’s team to an 11-2 season and a Fiesta Bowl win in 1991 while throwing for 2,488 yards and 21 touchdowns to just five interceptions, Sacca went on to become a second-round pick of the then-Phoenix Cardinals in the 1992 NFL Draft.
Despite significant interest from Penn State, Anthony decided against following in his father’s footsteps, committing to Notre Dame in March 2024 and not wavering through until signing day. Sacca did not play a single defensive snap for the Irish in 2025 as he redshirted his true freshman year.
Now, Sacca is back in the portal and likely to be a target of Campbell’s staff. Penn State managed to hang onto Tony Rojas at linebacker, but with Dom Deluca out of eligibility and Amare Campbell transferring away, off-ball linebacker is one of many positions of need.
While Sacca, the top-ranked linebacker in the state, spent the year on the sidelines in South Bend, true freshman four-star linebacker, the No. 8-ranked player in the state, Alex Tatsch, saw 108 snaps of action across six games. Tatsch is returning to the Nittany Lions in a linebacker group that now includes Iowa State transfers Caleb Bacon and Kooper Ebel.
Sacca isn’t a make-or-break player for the Nittany Lions in this transfer portal cycle, but with four years of eligibility left, he’s certainly an intriguing developmental piece who could help the program’s long-term depth after managing just 12 commits in the 2026 high school class.