UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State 2026 edition of its football team has a new head coach in Matt Campbell, an almost totally revamped coaching staff, including new DC D’Anton Lynn and OC Taylor Mouser, and a radically reshaped roster that has a total of nearly 60 newcomers — a No. 4 ranked class of 38 incoming transfers, with 23 who came with Campbell from Iowa State, 15 freshman and 5 key preferred walk-ons — and a newly organized front office.
How this all fits together and what it means to the team’s performance on the field in the Big Ten and beyond is one of the biggest — if not THE biggest — questions about the new college football season.
One thing is for certain, however. We will begin to get answers very soon.
Training camp began on August 4, and Campbell and three players, QB Rocco Becht, OL Anthony Donkoh, and LB Tony Rojas, took part in the Big Ten Media Day on Tuesday, July 28 at the Chicago Hilton.
The projections of the Nittany Lions this season are all over the place.
Although the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll have not yet been released, ESPN does not list Penn State in its preseason Top 10 (Ohio State, Georgia and Oregon are the top three), but it’s widely thought that the team is a Top 20 pick. And many have Penn State listed as a strong candidate for the ‘26 Playoffs.
Before all that though, Penn State has to field a team which makes this preseason one of the most important in recent history.
In the backfield, Becht will certainly be the starter at quarterback, with freshman Alex Manske, Connor Barry (a D-III All-American) and newly enrolled Peyton Falzone behind him.
The Lions have three top running backs in Carson Hanson, James Peoples, and Quinton Martin, while the tight end group, with Ben Brahmer, Andrew Rappleyea, and Gabe Burkle, could be one of the strongest in the country.
The much-maligned wide receiver room now has at least six strong candidates including Chase Sowell and Brett Eskildsen from ISU.
The offensive line has a tremendous upside — led by DonKoh — for new coach Ryan Clanton and will be concentrating on developing depth.
Rojas will lead a defense with tons of talent and depth but with lots of questions to answer.
And Ryan Barker, one of the best kickers in the conference will be back for his junior season.
The schedule will begin on September 5 at home against Marshall and then the team will play two more non-conference games — at Temple on Sep. 12 and at home against Buffalo on Sep. 19.
The Big Ten games begin at home against Wisconsin and then it’s at Northwestern, home vs. USC and at Michigan before the bye week of Oct. 24.
It is safe to say that lots of eyes in Big Ten Country and beyond will be locked on that Marshall game at Beaver Stadium on September 5.
It was Matt Campbell’s first Big Ten Media Day last week, and he began by thanking everyone and stating how much of an honor it was for him to be there representing Penn State.
“I couldn’t be more humbled and grateful to be here representing Penn State, our university,” he said, “our athletic department and our football program, the history, the legacy we represent. It’s deep. It’s deep with great coaches. It’s deep with great players and certainly deep with tremendous and great teams, some of the best that have ever played in college football.”
“It’s an honor to build on those great successes and traditions of our past. I will tell you we will honor the traditions of this great program, a program that’s played over 139 years of football, that has almost 950 wins in college football. It’s my opportunity and my honor to be able to represent that great football program.”
And although he did not speak specifically about his team’s approach to the new season, he did introduce the three players he brought to the event — Becht, Donkoh and Rojas — and their importance in the new program.
“We’re proud that they come from a locker room that’s truly full of young men like them,” he said. “These young men are part of 24 seniors who have led the way from day one since we came back in January of building the standard and expectation of moving our football program forward.”
Finally, he spoke about Iowa State, where he came from, and hinted about how he planned to transform the PSU program.
“I really loved my time in Ames, Iowa, and I’m really proud of what we were able to accomplish at Iowa State in our 10 years.”
“Great players, great people, great community.”
“If we were ever going to leave Iowa State, it was going to have to be a school and an institution that really fit how I believe and what I believe and how you build culture, how you build a team and how you build forward.”
“I think for the last six months, we’ve been reminded why it was such a great fit for us at Penn State. I think the history, what it means to play there, but how you do it, the integrity, the character and the class in its finest moments, what Penn State football has really stood for, really resonated with myself and certainly my background. It really had to be a perfect fit, and that’s really why we are here.”
Now, with his staff (including returning PSU coach Terry Smith), Campbell is beginning to put it all together and begin a new era in Penn State football.
And if you ask almost any Penn State football fan, it could not happen soon enough.
