Sunday Column: As Current and Future Roster Prepares for a Major Overhaul, These Are The Foundational Pieces Penn State Needs To Keep

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Once the calendar flips past Thanksgiving, if you’re one of the fortunate few teams who is at the top of college football’s food chain, you start turning your attention to the playoff.

If you’re not, you start thinking about next season.

All due respect to whatever low-tier bowl game the Nittany Lions might play in after barely defeating Rutgers on Saturday in Piscataway, most Penn State fans are focused on the future, and what an uncertain future it is. So much of what 2026 holds for the program will hinge on who the next head coach is, but the roster makeup just might play a role, too. Though the transfer portal has blurred these lines a bit, college football teams are still largely divided into three distinct groups: The guys who won’t be back next season because they’re out of eligibility and/or going to the league, the guys who will be back next season, and the incoming recruits and transfers.

Penn State, loaded with seniors who came back for (cough) one more shot at a national title and having just about its entire 2026 recruiting class turned to vapor since it dismissed James Franklin on Oct. 12, is disproportionately stacked in group one and disproportionately wanting in group three. That leaves the guys in the middle, a group two that is also likely to see some healthy attrition given the staff changes and the nature of the portal in general. Who in that group are the players the new coaches should throw a bag of cash at try to convince to stay?

Players Penn State Would REALLY Like to See Return

•Amare Campbell. The UNC transfer has been one of the most consistent and valuable players on the defense all season, moreso since Tony Rojas went down with an injury. An overall lack of depth at linebacker was one of the few weak links on the defense this season and even if the new staff mines the portal successfully at the position this offseason, Campbell would provide a major boost for whoever the new DC is.

•Andrew Rappleyea. Penn State’s tight end room was perplexing this season. From what we’d seen of Luke Reynolds, Khalil Dinkins and the rest of the tight ends on the rare occasions Tyler Warren wasn’t plowing through tacklers in 2024, it looked like the Lions were well-positioned to collectively replace Warren to the extent such a thing was possible. However, the receiving production was down with both quarterbacks and the blocking was almost shockingly poor. The last few weeks, though, Rappleyea has shined, highlighted by a 53-yard touchdown to open Penn State’s scoring on Saturday. The Lions would surely welcome Reynolds and/or Dinkins back, too, but Rapp has looked the best of the group and will look to build on his late-season momentum.

•Zion Tracy. The junior nickelback has made some impact plays—including the game-clinching fourth-down stop on Saturday—and some plays he’d like back this season, but his versatility and his experience would make him a valuable chess piece for any defense

•Chaz Coleman. The freshman defensive end missed a bunch of time with an injury but he’s the best young prospect on that side of the ball and it’s not particularly close. Losing him to another program would hurt, especially with the departure of Dani Dennis-Sutton from a group that wasn’t particularly deep this year.

•Max Granville. Another young stud on the defensive line, Granville missed the season with an injury but would have likely made a significant impact this fall and, if healthy, is someone who should factor into any defense he plays for in 2026.

•Daryus Dixson. The freshman corner has gotten some good run in a veteran unit that likes to rotate bodies and accorded himself nicely against some of the Big Ten’s better wideouts.

•Koby Howard. Finally seeing some reps after being stuck on the bench for the bulk of 2025, the rookie wide receiver has shown an ability to get open and make the kind of splash plays the offense has mostly lacked. His blocking has been solid, too. The Lions have had a frustrating number of busts at the position over the last few years but few players who have been with the program long enough to truly grow.

•Anthony Donkoh. After a promising season at right guard in 2024, Donkoh moved out to right tackle to start 2025 and wasn’t as effective. Since he moved back inside, he’s been solid, and is still not a finished product. The Lions will need competency on the interior of the line and that’s not always easy to find in the portal and harder still in the high school recruiting ranks.

•Ethan Grunkemeyer. This one is tricky. The last Penn State QB standing (QB1, QB3 and QB4 were all injured when the regular season ended) showed some good stuff and some head-grabbing stuff in his unexpected run as a starter. He did look more comfortable with his reads and in the pocket as the season went on, but the coaches also (smartly) leaned more heavily on the run game than they had when Drew Allar was the starter. It says here Grunk has a higher ceiling than what he’s shown so far and the Lions would do well to at least have him as an option, if not the unquestioned starter, by the time next fall rolls around.

Quality always trumps quantity when it comes to talent, particularly for programs who aspire to compete for Power 4 titles, but the more players the Lions can retain, the better, given both how much they’ve lost on the recruiting front and the number of players likely to follow Franklin to Blacksburg. The new coach is going to get a bit of a grace period, but the inevitable rebuild will be quicker and less extensive if Penn State can get some or most of the above players and several others not mentioned to fill out next spring’s two-deep.