During his tenure at Iowa State, Matt Campbell was a coach who relied heavily on the transfer portal. His program has always been about development, and such his clear top priority since arriving in Happy Valley, leading up to the January 2-16 Transfer Portal window has been high school recruiting and roster retention.
That may all change, though, once the portal opens up. Even if Penn State hadn’t moved on from James Franklin midway through the season, the roster would have still needed a significant overhaul this offseason. The 2025 squad, which proved to be Franklin’s last in Happy Valley, was senior-laden and built to compete for the national title.