Based on Penn State’s activity in the transfer portal and its scheduled visits to Happy Valley, James Franklin and his coaching staff had two clear priorities to address this offseason, wide receiver and defensive line. Receiver is an obvious need and the Nittany Lions have already added two pass catchers for 2025, USC transfer Kyron Hudson and Devonte Ross from Troy. However, they’ve only brought in one defensive lineman and that may not be enough.
On Friday, Penn State missed another opportunity to add depth along the defensive line as former LSU defensive tackle Jay’viar Suggs committed to Wisconsin. Suggs had visited Happy Valley in December. The 6-foot-3 295-pound junior began his career at Grand Valley State before transferring to Baton Rouge last offseason. He played 133 total snaps across 12 games in his lone season with the Tigers and recorded three sacks with 11 quarterback pressures.
Texas A&M edge rusher Enai White is Penn State’s only defensive portal addition so far this offseason and the Philadelphia native is inexperienced because of injuries he’s suffered across three seasons in College Station. He was brought in to replace Abdul Carter who will be a top-10 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, which still leaves Franklin and defensive line coach Deion Barnes searching for depth on the interior of the defensive line.
Junior star Zane Durant will likely be back for his senior season in 2025, but Dvon J-Thomas, Coziah Izzard, and Dvon J-Thomas, who have played the next most snaps on the interior for the Nittany Lions, are all seniors in their final season of eligibility. Penn State had also targetted USC transfer Bear Alexander before the big-name defensive tackle landed at Oregon and PA-native David Blay who ultimately transferred from Louisiana Tech to Miami.
The Nittany Lions are running out of options in the transfer portal, so unless they can make a late splash Ty Blanding and Xavier Gilliam could be leaned on as significant contributors in their redshirt sophomore and redshirt freshman seasons in 2025.