Matt Campbell doesn’t need Josiah Zayas to be a star for Penn State to feel good about the pickup. What Zayas has already shown is enough to make the point: there’s real value in Campbell’s eye for talent. What he has not shown is that a roster can be built that way alone.
Zayas has been the most noticeable player from Campbell’s 15-man 2026 class, a group Campbell pieced together after being hired away from Iowa State once the early signing period was already underway. Campbell landed with only two signees in place, Peyton Falzone and Jackson Ford, and could bring over 13 more players from the class he signed to follow him to Ames.
Among that group, Zayas has stood out the most on the field. Against Michigan, he was on the field for 46 of Penn State’s 55 defensive snaps, his second straight week as a full-time starter at nickel while Zion Tracy shifts back to safety. He also delivered the game’s biggest moment with a ridiculous one-handed interception.
That’s the kind of hit Campbell and general manager Derek Hoodjer used to find at Iowa State: a three-star prospect, ranked No. 414 nationally by 247Sports Composite, who turns into an impact player. For Penn State fans, that kind of discovery matters even more right now with Campbell’s 2027 class sitting around No. 20 nationally and having lost its lone quarterback commitment, Will Wood, to Boston College on Sunday.
There’s no doubt Campbell’s ability to identify underrecruited players is one of his best qualities, and it may be the trait that makes him most valuable as a head coach. The danger is assuming that strength can carry the entire program.
College football still rewards coaches who can uncover hidden value. Curt Cignetti just won a national championship that way.
But even Indiana’s approach has evolved beyond simply betting on low-profile finds every year. Cignetti and the Hoosiers have started chasing more physical upside in the transfer market, adding players like Kansas State edge transfer Tobi Osunsanmi and Michigan State wide receiver transfer Nick Marsh, while also making a serious run at in-state five-star receiver Monshun Sales before Alabama landed his commitment.
They’ve also backed that ambition with money. The Athletic estimated Indiana’s roster budget between $36 and $40 million this year, while Penn State is in the middle tier at $29-32 million.
That’s the real lesson here. Coaches can win by seeing what others miss, but the teams at the top do more than that.
Cignetti understood that to stay with Oregon and Ohio State, the two biggest spenders in the Big Ten, he needed to swing bigger. Campbell will need to do the same.
Florida State has already shown how quickly the whole thing can wobble. Mike Norvell struck gold in 2023 with Jared Verse, who transferred from Albany, and a celebrated transfer class. But when he tried to repeat that formula in 2024 and leaned too far away from Florida’s high school talent, the volatility showed up fast.
That’s the warning for Penn State. Campbell’s 2027 class is a better sign than a year ago. It includes three top-200 recruits by 247Sports Composite and seven four-stars, even if most of the class is still made up of three-star prospects.
Some of those players could become the next Josiah Zayas. Most probably won’t. That means Campbell and his staff have to keep pushing on two fronts at once: finding veteran transfers who can help right away and finding ways to raise the roster budget through fundraising so Penn State can close the gap with the top of the Big Ten.
Zayas is a terrific story, and players like him matter more than ever when the margins are this thin. But he has to be part of the plan, not the whole plan.
In Other News...
Penn States Big Ten Position Just Got Much More Uncomfortable
Week 7 of the 2026 college football season shook up the national picture in a hurry, and the ripple effects reached well beyond the biggest headlines. With half of the AP Top 10 going down, including Georgia and Notre Dame, the sport suddenly feels a lot less predictable, and the Big Tens pecking order got harder to read by the hour. A weekend full of upsets and quarterback absences turned what had looked like a fairly stable race into something much messier.
Ohio State now has its own concern after Julian Sayin was sidelined for several weeks, a development that changes the leagues balance in a hurry. Around the conference, teams such as Rutgers, Minnesota, UCLA and Oregon posted notable results while also dealing with the growing reality of backup quarterbacks being forced into bigger roles. For Penn State, the broader takeaway is obvious: the path through the Big Ten just got more crowded, more unpredictable and a lot less comfortable. [Read more 🡒]
Rocco Becht Faces A Penn State Question Fans Can't Ignore
Rocco Bechts season has become one of the biggest reasons Penn States offense has stalled during a four-game losing streak. Through seven games, the quarterback has dealt with turnovers and uneven play, even as his completion percentage has climbed from last season. The bigger concern is that the improvement has not translated into cleaner overall production, especially on the short throws that are supposed to keep an offense on schedule.
Penn State has not done him many favors either. The running game has been weak, and injuries to key receivers have left Becht operating with less margin for error than he would like. Even so, the questions around him are growing because the underlying issues are showing up in the same places week after week, and the Nittany Lions still need a way to turn a frustrating stretch into something more sustainable. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States QB Faces Mounting Pressure After Painful Michigan Loss
Rocco Bechts latest outing left Penn State with plenty to sort through after a 21-18 loss to Michigan, a game in which the quarterbacks mistakes helped tilt the second half. Becht was part of a messy afternoon that featured two interceptions and a lost fumble, the kind of turnover-heavy performance that can linger after a tight road loss and raise questions about how a team moves forward.
Matt Campbell, though, did not sound ready to shift away from his starter. He pointed to Bechts competitiveness and the room he still has to grow, while Becht acknowledged the challenge and said he believes in himself and in the work ahead. For Penn State, the storyline now is less about one bad night than whether its quarterback can steady things quickly enough to keep the season from slipping into something more complicated. [Read more 🡒]