Penn State’s tight end pipeline got uprooted with James Franklin’s firing, and though Matt Campbell was able to replenish it with Benjamin Brahmer and Gabe Burkle following him from Iowa State, it’s hard to offset two former blue-chip recruits leaving the program at the same position.
The first of those five-star tight ends, 2024 recruit Luke Reynolds, followed James Franklin to Virginia Tech, so at least he’s out of the Big Ten. However, the second, 2025 four-star Andrew Olesh, the top-rated player in Franklin’s 2025 recruiting class, could be a thorn in Penn State’s side for years to come.
Olesh committed to Oregon out of the portal on Sunday, heading to Eugene with all four years of eligibility remaining after redshirting at Penn State this season. The former Michigan commit, who flipped to the Nittany Lions, is now heading to an even bigger Big Ten threat out on the West Coast.
BREAKING: Penn State true freshman transfer TE Andrew Olesh has Committed to Oregon, he tells @On3Sports
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) January 11, 2026
The 6’5 236 TE was ranked as a Five-Star Recruit in the 2025 On300 (No. 1 TE)
He’ll have 4 years of eligibility left https://t.co/RlUbB6EMhS pic.twitter.com/KJX8AcsyF7
Former Penn State TE and top PA 2025 recruit, Andrew Olesh, is transferring to Oregon
Along with being Penn State’s top 2025 recruit, Olesh was the top-rated player in Pennsylvania that year. Flipping him from Michigan on signing day was a huge win for Franklin to bolster his class, but with the arrival of Brahmer and Burkle this offseason, Olesh followed Reynolds and 2025 four-star Matt Henderson into the portal. Henderson, like Reynolds, is committed to the Hokies.
Penn State will not play Oregon in 2026, but the Nittany Lions do have a trip to Autzen Stadium slated for the 2027 season. Dan Lanning’s Ducks, of course, beat Penn State for the Big Ten title in 2024, their first season in the expanded conference. Then, though they lost to Indiana in the regular season and did not have a chance to defend their crown in Indianapolis as the Hoosiers beat Ohio State, Oregon did make a trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals, again falling to Indiana.
The Hoosiers have grabbed the spot as the Big Ten’s newest perennial contender with a loaded transfer portal class to springboard Curt Cignetti’s team into the 2026 season. But they grabbed that spot from the Ducks, who are clearly spending like a program ready to win it all and are expected to remain in the mix.
To make matters worse, the Ducks bolstered their QB pipeline on Monday, announcing the commitment of Nebraska transfer and former five-star QB Dylan Raiola. Raiola has started for two seasons and could take over for the Ducks if 20-year-old redshirt sophomore Dante Moore leaves for the NFL. However, if he returns, Raiola will sit and redshirt before taking over the position in 2027, as Moore did sitting behind Dillon Gabriel last season. That smooth transition of power behind center is a scary proposition for the rest of the Big Ten, as is Oregon landing a talented playmaker like Olesh to its offense.