Historically, James Franklin has been ultra-careful with the transfer portal. He prefers homegrown talent, especially at the quarterback position, and has usually only brought in guys from other programs he has past ties with.
Before the spring portal opened this year, Franklin reinforced his ideology. He said Penn State’s transfer portal success has come from guys it recruited out of high school when speaking to On3 in early April, and emphasized his preference to “promote from within” two weeks later.
“We’re a developmental program across the board. We believe in that,” Franklin said on April 15. “But I’m a big believer, when you can promote from within, you know what you have, you know what you’re getting. And although the portal sometimes seems sexy, you don’t always know what you’re getting until they show up on campus.”
Fast forward two months, and Franklin said it’s no longer about high school projection — it’s about production.
“We’ve tried a few times where you get a guy who is maybe highly regarded, but hasn’t proven it yet at the college level, I’m kind of out of that business,” Franklin said last week.
Franklin was always hesitant using the portal and did so intelligently. But, he and the Nittany Lions weren’t without their misses when using this formula.
The most recent edition is Julian Fleming, who was a 5-star and the No. 1 player in Pennsylvania out of high school. Franklin and Co. recruited him heavily, but Fleming opted for Ohio State before Penn State brought him in out of the transfer portal in 2024.
Fleming was supposed to be a much-needed reinforcement at the wide receiver position, but he didn’t live up to that expectation with 176 receiving yards and one touchdown in his lone season as a Nittany Lion. It’s misses like these that have forced Penn State to switch up its transfer portal strategy.
And the Nittany Lions’ transfer portal acquisitions this offseason have shown that, especially those in the spring. Franklin only brought in two new players from the spring window, but they had one thing in common — production at the college level.
Wide receiver Trebor Peña nearly eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark last season, and linebacker Amare Campbell had 6.5 sacks and a forced fumble in 2024. Both were 3-stars with little interest in Penn State out of high school.
Although Franklin may have changed some of his previous ideologies, most of them have stayed the same. He’s said multiple times he wants being a Nittany Lion to be a transformational experience, and the best way to do that is by bringing in guys that fit well into the locker room.
“(Kyron) Hudson has come here and has really been a good fit, and the guys really like him, you know? I think it’s also very interesting, right? A lot of the guys that we got were captains,” Franklin said. “Hudson was a captain. Peña was a captain at their previous schools. I think that’s very telling, right? Of how they viewed them teammates and coaches. So that’s been really good.”
Franklin has also continued to lean on people he trusts to provide recommendations for transfer portal targets. With Campbell, linebacker Tony Rojas advocated for his fellow Virginia native along with former UNC head coach Mack Brown and current Tar Heels defensive coordinator Geoff Collins.
“People that I trusted pounded the table for him,” Franklin said. “Guys that we trust vouched for him. So all those things kind of helped, and so far so good.”
Regardless, it seems like Franklin has moved to a new direction with his transfer portal approach, and with the new revenue sharing agreement and an abundance of resources, Penn State will likely continue landing guys with production that speaks for itself.
“I think at the end of the day, if you’re going to go into the transfer portal, you need to be going to the transfer portal for production, not projection,” Franklin said. “High school is always going to be a little bit of projection.”
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