{"id":11047183,"date":"2026-01-01T13:41:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T18:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/?p=11047183&preview=true&preview_id=11047183"},"modified":"2026-01-01T16:29:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T21:29:31","slug":"penn-states-matt-campbell-set-to-begin-rebuilding-roster-via-portal-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/2026\/01\/01\/penn-states-matt-campbell-set-to-begin-rebuilding-roster-via-portal-opinion\/","title":{"rendered":"As Ethan Grunkemeyer enters transfer portal, Penn State\u2019s Matt Campbell must rebuild roster [opinion]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penn State football coach Matt Campbell faces a plethora of questions as he begins to reconstruct the roster when the NCAA transfer portal opens Friday.<\/p>\n

At least 20 players from the 2025 team are planning to put their names in the portal. At least 23 others have exhausted their eligibility.<\/p>\n

With only 10 commitments from high school seniors so far, Campbell and general manager Derek Hoodjer have to add quite a few players through the portal or through the next signing day on Feb. 7 to fill out the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there\u2019s a great foundation here with some great players,\u201d Campbell said last month when he was hired. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to do a great job of making sure those young men stay, then build the right group around them and still not flinch away from development and recruiting high school players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of Penn State\u2019s targets from the portal probably will be players from Iowa State, where Campbell was the head coach the last 10 seasons. More than 40 Cyclones reportedly plan to transfer somewhere.<\/p>\n

One of those Penn State targets very well might be quarterback Rocco Becht, who started the last three seasons for the Cyclones and who has passed for 9.274 yards and 64 touchdowns. He has one year of eligibility left.<\/p>\n

Penn State has Ethan Grunkemeyer, who was recruited by Campbell and Iowa State and who played well in seven starts after Drew Allar\u2019s season-ending ankle injury.<\/p>\n

But Grunkemeyer plans to enter the transfer portal, according to a report late Friday afternoon by ESPN\u2019s Pete Thamel.<\/p>\n

That probably indicates that Grunkemeyer has been told that he won\u2019t be Penn State\u2019s starter next season and that he\u2019s looking for a place where he would start immediately. Whether that means Becht is headed to State College was unclear.<\/p>\n

Grunkemeyer has three seasons of eligibility left, so he could conceivably have been Becht\u2019s backup in 2026 and then become the starter in 2027 and \u201928. But it doesn\u2019t look like that will happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our greatest successes during our time at Iowa State was always being able to find a quarterback and develop a quarterback to be really special,\u201d Campbell said last month before mentioning former Cyclone Brock Purdy and Becht. \u201cQuarterback is funny. It\u2019s fit. It\u2019s the relationship with the head coach. The head coach and the quarterback better be linked at the hip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like the quarterback has to have the leadership ability, the toughness and the grit to control the locker room. I think you\u2019re always looking for the right intangibles. Everybody likes fast. Everybody likes arm strength, but those things don\u2019t win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell and the Nittany Lions need reinforcements at multiple positions, especially the defensive line. Promising freshman Chaz Coleman, Jaylen Harvey, Xavier Gilliam, Zuriah Fisher, Sam Siafa and Daniel Jennings are all expected to be in the portal on Friday.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s on top of losing seniors Dani Dennis-Sutton, Zane Durant and Alonzo Ford Jr.<\/p>\n

Linebacker also is an area of need, where Keon Wylie, Anthony Speca and Kari Jackson are expected to leave and where Dominic DeLuca is out of eligibility.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether Amare Campbell, who was Penn State\u2019s leading tackler and a godsend, will stay, enter the portal or declare for the NFL draft. Keeping him would help the defense immensely.<\/p>\n

Matt Campbell also will likely be in the market for wide receivers. Trebor Pena, Devonte Ross and Kyron Hudson, Penn State\u2019s top three receivers, are out of eligibility. He presumably would like to keep freshman Koby Howard, who showed flashes in the second half of the season.<\/p>\n

The Lions received a boost this week when offensive linemen Anthony Donkoh, Cooper Cousins and Owen Aliciene announced they\u2019re staying, along with tight end Andrew Rappleyea.<\/p>\n

Campbell still has to fill out his on-field coaching staff, including assistants to coach the running backs and the defensive linemen. It\u2019s unclear which position Terry Smith will coach after serving as interim head coach. It\u2019s also unclear if linebackers coach Dan Connor and safeties coach Anthony Poindexter will stay.<\/p>\n

Penn State will make plenty of roster moves over the next month, starting Friday. Change is coming.<\/p>\n

\u201c(At Iowa State) we didn\u2019t have those resources (that blue-blood programs like Penn State have),\u201d Campbell said. \u201cSo we almost had to be better evaluators in high school and better evaluators in the transfer portal because it was the only shot that we could get.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a process. We know what we’re looking for in the transfer portal and have to use that to continue to supplement our football team.\u201d<\/p>\n

More like rebuilding it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deciding on what to do at quarterback will be a high priority for the new Nittany Lions coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11047185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-01-01T18:41:55Z","apple_news_api_id":"cbeb3796-5105-4ae5-9459-df5e223633fc","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-01-01T21:29:35Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Ay-s3llEFSuWUWd9eIjYz_A","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"subheadline":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[579,577,6761],"tags":[2466],"feature":[],"location":[],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[1940],"class_list":["post-11047183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-sports","category-sports","category-top-stories-tmc","tag-penn-state"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"579","primary_tag":2466,"print_workflow_body":"","print_workflow_exported_ts":"","print_workflow_exported_username":"","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":"","really_short_title":"","short_title":"","syndication_source":{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/2026\/01\/01\/penn-states-matt-campbell-set-to-begin-rebuilding-roster-via-portal-opinion","id":"cG9zdDo4NzE5OTM=","siteName":"Slot","syndicationSourceStack":[{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/2026\/01\/01\/penn-states-matt-campbell-set-to-begin-rebuilding-roster-via-portal-opinion","id":"cG9zdDo4NzE5OTM=","siteName":"Slot","sourceUrl":"https:\/\/slot.medianewsgroup.com"}],"source_url":"https:\/\/slot.medianewsgroup.com","print_workflow_exported_ts":true},"market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":11047185,"title":"REG-L-PennStateCampbell-0102-01-rotated","filename":"REG-L-PennStateCampbell-0102-01-rotated-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/REG-L-PennStateCampbell-0102-01-rotated-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/2026\/01\/01\/penn-states-matt-campbell-set-to-begin-rebuilding-roster-via-portal-opinion\/reg-l-pennstatecampbell-0102-01-rotated\/","alt":"","author":"2","description":"","caption":"Penn State football coach Matt Campbell will begin rebuilding the roster Friday with the opening of the NCAA transfer portal. 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