No program in the country has made more transfer portal additions than Penn State’s 24 through the first five days of the portal window. Only Oklahoma State, which is also undergoing a head coach transition, is keeping pace. Yet, that hot streak and Matt Campbell’s insistence on importing much of his Iowa State roster to turn Happy Valley into Ames East is proving to have a significant price.
While Penn State is adding to its roster fast, Campbell and general manager Derek Hoodjer have been unable to keep pace with the departures, which continue to mount. Some trade-offs have been obvious and were expected, such as Rocco Becht’s arrival prompting Ethan Grunkemeyer’s departure.
Others, including the recent string of unexpected portal entries, are devastating blows to a program desperate to reload a 2025 roster that was loaded with seniors and overcome a 2026 recruiting class that features just 12 commits.
Penn State's outgoing transfer list up to 42, with Dejuan Lane, Jabree Coleman, and others entering the portal
On Tuesday, after it appeared that the dust had settled on Penn State’s outgoing transfer class, four players, Cortez Harris, Mylachi Williams, Dejuan Lane, and Tyseer Denmark, all entered their names into the portal.
Harris and Williams, two young edge rushers, entered the portal after Penn State landed a commitment from Colorado defensive end Alex McPherson. Lane, a two-year contributor at safety who burned his redshirt as a true freshman in 2024, made his announcement on the heels of Campbell importing safeties Jamison Patton, Marcus Neal Jr., and Hunter Sowell from Iowa State.
Then, after the Nittany Lions landed a commitment from Ohio State transfer running back James Peoples, who had fallen out of favor in the Buckeye backfield for true freshman Bo Jackson, 2025 four-star Jabree Coleman entered the portal on Wednesday after just one year with his home-state Nittany Lions.
Penn State has added two receivers from Iowa State, Chase Sowell and Brett Eskildsen, but Denmark’s move, after a redshirt freshman season in which he saw just two targets, could be preempting a third WR addition. Campbell and his staff are reportedly hosting NC State transfer Noah Rogers for a visit and will likely be in the mix for Ohio State transfer Quincy Porter, whom James Franklin pushed hard for in the 2025 high school class.
Penn State has managed to hold onto a few key pieces like redshirt junior offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh, rising senior linebacker Tony Rojas, and emerging tight end Andrew Rappleyea. But a huge part of the young core of this roster is now heading out the door, and it may take Campbell a few years to fully replenish the cupboard.
That’s one of the reasons that many of Penn State’s portal targets have multiple seasons of eligibility remaining, because you can flip a roster once, when a new coach takes over, but if you try to do it every offseason, you’ll find yourself in trouble.