Penn State has 5 returning starters, but plenty of experience from portal

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The NCAA transfer portal for football closed Friday night, dramatically changing teams across the country.

None more than Penn State, where 50 players from the 2025 roster put their names in the portal and where 39 transfers committed to the Nittany Lions, who released their 102-man roster Friday afternoon.

Penn State will have a lot of new faces and might as well be nicknamed the Cyclones.

Matt Campbell recruited 24 of his former Iowa State players to join him in Happy Valley in his first season as coach. He did so mostly out of necessity because he had 72 roster spots to fill with 22 players exhausting their eligibility or declaring for the NFL draft.

Only five 2025 starters are returning for the Lions: offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh, tight end Andrew Rappleyea, cornerbacks Audavion Collins and Zion Tracy and kicker Ryan Barker.

Only six others have started at least one game at Penn State: wide receiver Koby Howard, center Dominic Rulli, guard Cooper Cousins, cornerback Daryus Dixson, defensive end Yvan Kemajou and linebacker Tony Rojas, who suffered a season-ending knee injury after four games.

But don’t fret, Penn State fans, the Lions will have plenty of experience.

Thirteen former Iowa State players either started at least half of the games for the 8-4 Cyclones last year or were starters before suffering a season-ending injury.

Quarterback Rocco Becht, whose family has roots in Delaware County, has the highest profile. Running back Carson Hansen, offensive lineman Trevor Buhr, tight ends Benjamin Brahmer and Gabe Burle and wide receivers Brett Eskildsen and Chase Sowell also were Iowa State starters on offense.

Four defensive players coming to Penn State started every game for the Cyclones: defensive tackle Ike Ezeogu, linebackers Caleb Bacon and Kooper Ebel and safety Marcus Neal Jr. In addition, safety Jamison Patton started the first nine games and defensive back Jeremiah Cooper the first four games before they were injured.

Three more transfers were starters at other schools: defensive tackle Keanu Williams at UCLA, defensive tackle Armstrong Nnodim at Oklahoma State and center Brock Riker at Texas State.

That gives Penn State 20 offensive or defensive players who were starters somewhere last year, plus Rojas and Barker.

The Lions’ situation doesn’t look so dire after all.

After the midseason firing of James Franklin as coach, Nazareth quarterback Peyton Falzone and Malvern Prep defensive end Jackson Ford were the only high school seniors to sign national letters of intent with Penn State on the early signing day last month.

Since Campbell’s hiring the following week, the Lions have received commitments from nine more high school seniors who are enrolled. Some of them signed in December with Iowa State, which released them and allowed them to join Campbell.

Penn State could add more players from the portal or sign more high school seniors on Feb. 4, the next signing day.

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Penn State football roster

Quarterbacks (5): Rocco Becht*, Kase Evans, Peyton Falzone, Jack Lambert, Alex Manske*.

Running backs (5): Carson Hansen*, Quinton Martin Jr., James Peoples*, D’Antae Sheffey, Cam Wallace.

Wide receivers (11): Karon Brookins*, Ethan Black, Logan Cunningham, Brett Esklidsen*, Peter Gonzalez, Koby Howard, Keith Jones Jr.*, Zay Robinson*, Lyrick Samuel, Chase Sowell*, Ben Whitver.

Tight ends (6): Cooper Alexander*, Benjamin Brahmer*, Gabe Burkle*, Finn Furmanek, Brian Kortovich, Andrew Rappleyea.

Offensive linemen (20): Hunter Albright*, Owen Aliciene, Mason Bandhauer, Henry Boehme, Caleb Brewer, Trevor Buhr*, Cooper Cousins, Anthony Donkoh, Jim Fitzgerald, Malachi Goodman, Donnie Harbour, Liam Horan, Tyshon Huff*, Vaea Ikakoula*, Kuol Kuol II*, Chimdy Onoh, Brock Riker*, Dominic Rulli, Garrett Sexton, Will Tompkins*.

Defensive ends (9): Dayshaun Barrett, Jackson Ford, Max Granville, Yvan Kemajou, Jordan Mayer, Alexander McPherson*, Bobby Mears, Aidan Probst, Mason Robinson.

Defensive tackles (9): Liam Andrews, Ty Blanding, Alijah Carnell*, De’Andre Cook, Ike Ezeogu*, Armstrong Nnodim*, Siale Taupaki*, Dallas Vakalahi*, Keanu Williams*.

Linebackers (8): LaVar Arrington II, Caleb Bacon*, Cael Brezina*, Kooper Ebel*, John Klosterman*, Tony Rojas, Cam Smith, Alex Tatsch.

Cornerbacks (15): Tyler Armstead, Christian Asker, Tyrell Chatman, Audavion Collins, Jeremiah Cooper*, Daryus Dixson, Max Heffner, Jahmir Joseph, Joshua Johnson, Ibn McDaniels*, Donte Nastasi, Xxavier Thomas, Zion Tracy, Bryson Williams, Josiah Zayas.

Safeties (8): Omarion Davis*, Chris Fileppo*, Jashaun Green, Amarion Jackson*, Marcus Neal Jr.*, Jamison Patton, Hunter Sowell*, Vaboue Toure.

Kickers (2): Ryan Barker, Matthew Parker.

Punter (1): Nathan Tiyce*.

Long snappers (2): Andrew Dufault, Blaise Sokach-Minnick.

*–denotes transfers.

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