Penn State Football: 6 Transfer Portal Needs for the Nittany Lions

The transfer portal is open for business and so far Penn State is doing far more shopping for new faces than it is saying goodbye to old ones. That’s a good sign for a team looking to gear up for a run in 2023 and 2024. That being said, you don’t turn down talent if it comes calling. Here are six areas Penn State could look to for transfer portal additions. Yes, six positions is nearly all of them.

Defensive Line: The departure of senior PJ Mustipher opens up an interior hole that he has filled for quite some time. Penn State has had a lot of success picking up interior linemen out of the portal in the past and this is another opportunity to flex those portal muscles. Penn State’s defense looks like it will be in OK shape in 2023, but strengthening the defensive front with some immediate help will go far in doing the same for the levels behind it.

Receiver: Parker Washington hasn’t announced his intentions yet, but with or without him Penn State could do well to land someone with game experience in the portal. Quarterback Drew Allar will only be as good as the weapons around him so there’s no reason to take it easy finding him those weapons. Penn State has a lot of untapped potential already in the locker room with this group, so it’s not a Code Red situation but finding a guy like Mitchell Tinsley who can come in with a lot of game experience already would be a boost. If younger guys develop over the summer this might not be as much of a pressing issue, but no reason to waste a year of Allar simply because nobody can make plays or catch the ball.

Cornerback/Safety: Kalen King gives Penn State something to work with at corner but the losses of Joey Porter Jr. and Ji’Ayir Brown give Penn State some pretty big holes to fill moving forward. Much like receiver, there are guys waiting in the wings who could step into these roles but Penn State has done a good job the past few seasons identifying experience in the portal in coverage areas. Like a lot of positions that are seeing change this offseason it’s hard to say “the next guys won’t be as good” because you simply don’t know yet, but if you were making a list where “immediate help” would be welcome, cornerback and safety are certainly two areas.

Quarterback: There’s no question, especially after the departure of Christian Veilleux to the transfer portal, that true freshman Drew Allar will be Penn State’s quarterback in 2023. This may have never been in double in the first place but had Veilleux stayed there may have been some degree of “open competition” talk from coach James Franklin. Considering how Penn State’s current season went and how often Allar saw the field, it’s going to be hard for anyone to take that kind of talk seriously. In turn, Franklin might just cut to the chase sooner rather than later. Either way, Penn State is only going to have three quarterbacks on the roster in 2023 and would certainly need to find another if for no other reason than not being one injury away from an outright crisis. Of course, this could be a hard sell — quarterbacks don’t get into the portal just to sit — so getting one to sit behind Allar is easier said than done. In any case, another warm body at this position is more important than it might seem.

Linebacker: The emergence of Abdul Carter has solidified the “next guy up” aspect of this group, but getting more help around him will only improve the quality of Penn State’s linebacker play. If Curtis Jacobs opts to return that will really shore up this group, but more depth and experience can only help. The Jonathan Sutherland experience at linebacker was a bit of mixed bag, even if he had played a ton of football. Finding a veteran guy to fill his shoes with more natural linebacking reps would be an upgrade there. This group wasn’t a weakness, but it also wasn’t — even with Carter — quite the strength it could be.

Offensive Line: The news that Olu Fashanu is retuning to Penn State was a big boost for this unit that could end up being among the best the Nittany Lions have fielded under James Franklin. It takes some degree of seeing is believing with this group, but on paper you don’t have to squint to find capable and quality starters. All the same not a season goes by without injuries along the offensive front. Not everyone needs to be a Top 10 pick in the making, but the deeper this room is the better off it will be. Penn State doesn’t need to add a potential starter to the fold, but landing someone that can play in a pinch will go far.