Even amidst its 2024 College Football Playoff run with a national championship, the program’s first since 1986, on the line, Penn State has made good use of the transfer portal. James Franklin has landed three talented players at positions of need, wide receivers Kyron Hudson from USC and Devonte Ross from Troy and edge rusher Enai White from Texas A&M.
However, the Nittany Lions still have a few holes to fill and not much time left to try and fill them. Franklin has been after additional offensive line depth and has been searching for a defensive tackle to add to his formidable front that will be losing plenty of talent to graduation and the NFL this offseason.
The transfer portal, though, doesn’t just work one way. Penn State fans have learned that all too well with the departure of backup quarterback Beau Pribula to Missouri, and a nice NIL payday this month. For most of college football, the transfer portal window is open from Monday, December 9, through Saturday, December 28.
Penn State’s season won’t be over until after the transfer portal window closes, which was one of the incentives for Pribula to depart early. Still, for those players who stuck around for the CFP run and are looking for a fresh start next season, they will have a five-day portal window that opens the day after the team’s final game, whether that be against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl CFP quarterfinal on New Year’s Eve, or the CFP National Championship Game on January 20.
Players will continue to pour into the portal through January, well after the official portal window closes, so Franklin and the Nittany Lions will have more opportunities to add talent beyond just Hudson, Ross, and White, but will also need to allocate some NIL resources to keep talented players on the 2024 out of the portal after this postseason finally comes to an end.