Penn State heads into camp with a new face steering the program and a very different kind of buzz around it.
Matt Campbell will open his first training camp with the Nittany Lions on Wednesday, and the calendar says the season is only a month away from game action. But the mood around this team has changed plenty since last August. Penn State went from being treated like a national-title contender to entering 2026 as the preseason No. 17 team in the Coaches Poll, with College Football Playoff hopes that feel a whole lot more modest.
The biggest shift may be on the sidelines. Penn State’s coordinators took plenty of heat in 2025, and the defense in particular slid hard after Jim Knowles arrived as the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football last January.
The Nittany Lions allowed 16.5 points per game in 2024, then jumped to 20.5 under Knowles. Over the final nine games, that number climbed to 24.4, and that stretch came against only two top-50 scoring offenses.
A big reason for the frustration was how long it took for the scheme to settle in. Players never seemed fully comfortable with what they were seeing or doing.
That’s why the change to D’Anton Lynn matters. Tony Rojas said at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago that Lynn is handling the install differently.
“In past years, it’s been kind of like a rush to get the defense installed,” Rojas said. “But this year he’s taking the time, and we’re getting to know it very well.”
The offense had its own set of lingering questions, and they followed Penn State around all season. Andy Kotelnicki struggled to make adjustments quickly enough, and two issues kept resurfacing: when Kaytron Allen would finally take over as the lead back, and why the passing game wasn’t pushing the ball downfield.
Allen, the program’s all-time rushing leader, didn’t become the full-time three-down back until Game 7 against Iowa, after James Franklin was fired. Meanwhile, quarterback Drew Allar averaged 6.9 yards per pass attempt, which would have tied for 11th in the Big Ten if he had qualified.
Taylor Mouser is taking over with a different approach. He brings a “spread-pro offense” built to create more explosive plays through the air, and that alone should change the feel of the unit. Rocco Becht summed up the mindset this way:
“I think it’s an aggressive offense,” quarterback Rocco Becht said. “He's not going to go out there and call a game scared. He's going to go out there and call a game to win, and that's something you want in your offensive coordinator.”
Penn State also has to prove it can survive the loss of one of the season’s biggest turning points. Tony Rojas tore his ACL shortly after the White Out game against Oregon, and the Nittany Lions unraveled from there. They went 4-5 without him, and after averaging 8.5 points per game through the first four contests, they jumped to 22.4 over the next nine.
That injury exposed how thin the linebacker room had become. Dom DeLuca, a former walk-on, was pushed from a rotational role into a full-time starting job, and he didn’t have the speed to handle Big Ten opponents consistently. That picture looks different now.
Penn State brought in three Iowa State transfers to help replace last year’s leading tackler, Amare Campbell. Kooper Ebel, who led the Cyclones with 77 tackles, is the likeliest candidate to start at middle linebacker.
Caleb Bacon, a 2025 All-Big 12 honorable-mention pick, and Cael Brezina are also in the mix. Campbell is also bullish on sophomore Alex Tatsch, who is back from injury after showing well in the six games he played.
And if Rojas is healthy, he still gives the group its best player.
The backfield is another place where Penn State is starting over. Allen and Nicholas Singleton are both off to the NFL, and their production won’t be easy to replace. The Nittany Lions will lean on Carson Hansen, James Peoples and Quinton Martin Jr. instead.
That trio gives the offense a different kind of balance. Hansen is the physical, three-down option.
Peoples brings explosiveness on the ground and as a pass-catcher. Martin offers an all-around skill set.
Still, matching Allen and Singleton is a massive ask. Even in a down year, Singleton produced 768 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Together, the pair accounted for 2,139 yards and 29 touchdowns that are now gone from the backfield.
Star power was a defining feature of last year’s team. Opponents had to build game plans around Allen, Singleton, left guard Vega Ioane, defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton and Allar.
This group doesn’t have that same collection yet. Ben Brahmer is the closest thing, and Campbell called him the nation’s best tight end in 2024, when the Nittany Lions had Tyler Warren.
Beyond that, the names to watch are Rojas, safety Marcus Neal Jr. and cornerback Daryus Dixson.
Penn State did get a stabilizing answer at quarterback late last season when Allar was injured in Game 6 against Northwestern. Ethan Grunkemeyer stepped in and helped steady the team, completing more than 71 percent of his passes over his final six regular-season games and leading Penn State to four straight wins to close Terry Smith’s run as interim head coach.
Now the question shifts to Alex Manske. Can he provide that kind of backup security if needed?
He has played in three collegiate games and completed four of five passes. He also arrived with pedigree, as the highest-ranked player in Iowa State’s 2025 recruiting class.
But he missed spring practice because of a medical condition before being cleared for drills in early July.
Campbell called Manske’s return “monumental,” but he still has work to do before he can win the QB2 job over Division III transfer Connor Barry.
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