Matt Campbell is heading into Big Ten Media Days with a little more mileage than most first-time arrivals.
The Penn State coach has already lived through 10 Big 12 Football Media Days, so the annual talking season isn’t new to him. What is new is the setting: Chicago, where the Big Ten’s three-day Q&A marathon returns for the first time since 2019. Penn State is set to take the stage Tuesday, and there should be plenty to sort through once the microphones come out.
For now, the bigger story is what Campbell has already been saying behind the scenes. After spring practice, he sat down for a 30-minute interview and spoke plainly about the path that brought him to Penn State. One of the clearest themes was how much he values adversity as part of the job.
“We have to use our scars as our superpower to kind of navigate ourselves through what we're all going through, and that's change," Campbell said. "And usually if we can use our scars, our wisdom of what history has taught us, let's put those things on the table, let's understand that, and then let's do everything in our power to be the best version of us coming out of this."
That conversation is just the first piece of a larger set of stories from the interview, with more to come.
Penn State also made news last week for something outside the usual football lane: cryptocurrency. More specifically, the school is entering the fan-token space, joining a group of five colleges that will offer the digital assets through Socios.
The concept is already familiar in European soccer, international racing and esports. For fans, the pitch is access - exclusive merchandise, the chance to design an alternate jersey, even a Zoom with players. According to a news release from PlayFly, which helped broker the deal and holds Penn State’s multimedia rights, “Through Fan Tokens®, supporters can vote on fan focused decisions, participate in exclusive experiences, unlock unique benefits and connect with their favorite teams in new ways,”
Socios is using Penn State, Maryland, Michigan State, LSU and Texas A&M to test the U.S. market. Not everybody is buying in, though. Darian Somers, who covers Penn State for the Stuff Somers Says website, called it a “grift.”
On the recruiting front, Penn State’s 2027 class has cooled off a bit after spending part of the spring inside the top five of the 247Sports Composite rankings. It now sits at No. 20, and Campbell acknowledged in a recent radio interview that his staff has had to play “catch-up” while learning the regional players, coaches and programs they’re targeting.
There is better momentum in the 2028 class, where Campbell said he is “excited” about the early start. That group already includes commitments from two of Pennsylvania’s top-10 players: 4-star cornerback Deonte Flemings Jr. and 3-star quarterback James Armstrong.
Recruiting analyst Ryan Snyder of Blue-White Illustrated said he has noticed “positive movement” as Campbell’s staff builds relationships across the area. Snyder called Penn State’s start to the 2028 class “fantastic,” while noting there is still work ahead.
“They've done a fantastic job of getting a good foot in the door at the La Salles and the St. Joes and the Central Catholics out in Pittsburgh,” Snyder said. “At the same time, they still have a lot of really good relationships from their time in the Midwest, and so you're going to, I think with time, see a steady progression with a little bit more of the regionals, just oftentimes because the regional guys are the ones who really stick.”
Training camp opens in early August, and a few key battles are already taking shape. Running back and left tackle are the two most obvious ones to watch, and left tackle brings one especially intriguing name: redshirt freshman Malachi Goodman. He is the only former 5-star recruit on the roster who has not yet played a snap, but he has drawn plenty of praise this offseason.
Campbell also made clear that this year’s camp should look different from Penn State’s 2025 approach. Last summer, the program limited contact and reps because of its CFP run and the number of veteran players on the roster. That didn’t pay off in hindsight, and Campbell said he intends to run a tougher, more physical camp this time.
There was also a staff note on the Penn State Letterman's Club, which now has a new director in Jordan Hill. Hill joined James Franklin’s football staff in 2024 and was one of Campbell’s key staff retentions.
And in basketball, Mike Rhoades added another wrinkle to the broader conversation around Penn State athletics when he said the Nittany Lions were “at the bottom” of the Big Ten in NIL funding. Athletic Director Pat Kraft is expected to be available in Chicago and will likely face questions on that topic as well.
In Other News...
Fired Former Penn State Doctor Is Suddenly Back In A Huge Fight
The College Football Players Association has taken a visible step forward at Stanford, where current players have launched the groups first-ever chapter and elected player representatives to help lead it. The move gives the CFBPA a campus foothold it has been seeking as it tries to educate and advocate for college football players, with the broader push aimed at building toward unionization and collective bargaining.
For Penn State readers, the interesting wrinkle is Dr. Scott Lynch, the former Nittany Lions doctor who now serves on the CFBPA board as vice president of health and safety. Lynch has been one of the organizations public supporters, and the Stanford chapter adds another marker to a campaign that the CFBPA has tried to plant in other places before, including at Penn State, where an earlier effort ran into resistance. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Gets A Harsh Big Ten Reality Check In Preseason Poll
Penn States first preseason look under Matt Campbell comes with a clear message from the Big Ten media: the Lions have work to do before anyone starts talking like a contender again. In the conference poll put together by Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis, with 46 media members weighing in, Penn State landed seventh, a sharp reminder of how much changed after last years 7-6 finish and the firing of James Franklin.
The drop is especially striking because Penn State opened 2025 with the kind of preseason buzz that usually comes with Big Ten title hopes and even national championship chatter. Instead, the program now enters 2026 trying to reset its standing under a new coach while Ohio State and Oregon sit atop the leagues early pecking order, leaving the Nittany Lions to prove they belong back in that conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Pat Kraft Just Sent Penn State Fans A Blunt Basketball Message
Penn States mens basketball budget has become a more visible part of the conversation around where the program is headed, and athletic director Pat Kraft made it clear the Nittany Lions are trying to keep pace without pretending they are already in the same spending class as the Big Tens biggest players. In an interview, Kraft said the programs spending still trails the top end of the league, even as the budget has nearly doubled and is now around $8 million for the 2026-2027 season, a sign that the school is putting more resources behind a program that wants to compete higher up the conference ladder.
Kraft also pointed to the reality that modern roster building now runs through NIL and third-party sponsorships, which makes the support structure around Mike Rhoades just as important as the on-court product. He praised Rhoades and his staff for the way they have recruited and developed the roster, and the broader message was hard to miss: Penn State believes the basketball program is moving in the right direction, but the next step will depend on whether the funding behind it keeps growing with the ambition. [Read more 🡒]