Penn State’s recruiting board is getting a little more interesting in Week 4, and Rutgers commit Jamar Taylor has become a name to watch.
After losing four-star running back Aiden Gibson to Rutgers this summer - and watching him reclassify to 2026 before landing in Piscataway - Penn State appears ready to push back. On Saturday, Tyler Calvaruso of Lions247 reported that Taylor is among the recruits headed to Happy Valley for the Nittany Lions’ Big Ten opener against Wisconsin, a game that has turned into a major recruiting stage for Matt Campbell and his staff.
The visit matters because Taylor checks a lot of the boxes Penn State has been targeting. The Delaware native is listed at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, and he’s rated a three-star in the 2027 class.
He’s also the No. 504 overall player in the country. That size profile fits neatly with the big-bodied receiver mold Campbell, general manager Derek Hoodjer, and wide receivers coach Kashif Moore have been chasing since arriving in State College.
Penn State could use the help at receiver, too. Gibson wasn’t the only summer loss for Campbell’s staff.
Jamir Dean is now headed to Georgia as a top-100 player, in-state wideout Khalil Taylor picked Nebraska, and Deshawn Hall chose Auburn. The result is a 2027 receiver group that currently includes only one player: four-star Landon Blum, an eight-man football standout from Woodbine, Iowa.
Blum brings plenty of upside at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, and he sits just outside the top 300 nationally. But he also comes with a steep transition ahead, moving from small-town Iowa football to the Big Ten.
Penn State’s receiver room is in better shape overall than it was under James Franklin. Koby Howard looks like a rising piece, Brett Eskildsen has one year of eligibility left after following Campbell from Ames, and freshman Amarion Jackson has already shown he can help.
Even so, landing only one receiver in the 2027 class would likely send Penn State back into the transfer portal, which is a less preferred path for Campbell and Hoodjer than building the room through high school recruiting and development. Flipping Taylor would help address that need and also serve a bigger purpose in the Northeast recruiting fight.
That’s where Rutgers comes in. Campbell is still trying to establish Penn State as the recruiting power in the region, and the Gibson loss gave the Scarlet Knights a small win. Rutgers is not viewed as a major threat, and Schiano may not even make it through the season in Piscataway, but Penn State still wants to make its point.
That starts with Taylor, who should be near the top of the staff’s list before the early signing period in December. After that, Campbell can circle back to Gibson if his first year at Rutgers goes poorly enough to put him in the portal.
In Other News...
Penn State Fans Have One Annoying Week 4 Viewing Problem
Week 4 is shaping up as one of the busiest Saturdays of the college football season, with five ranked-on-ranked matchups and three of them coming in the SEC alone. The marquee slate includes No. 1 Texas against No. 14 Tennessee, while No. 24 Mississippi State and No. 19 Missouri give the afternoon even more bite. For Penn State fans trying to keep tabs on the national picture, it is the kind of weekend where the TV remote gets as much work as the game watch party.
The wrinkle is that all of those appealing games come with a maze of streaming options, which is never exactly ideal when the schedule starts overlapping and the stakes climb. Add in names worth tracking beyond the rankings, like Kamario Taylor, who leads the nation in points responsible for, and it becomes one of those weeks where the football is easy to find but not always easy to follow. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Faces Early Big Ten Test With Key Roles Suddenly Changing
Penn State heads into its first Big Ten game of the 2026 season at 3-0, but the build-up to Wisconsin comes with a familiar early-season wrinkle: the availability report is already forcing the staff to shuffle pieces around. Several players are listed as out, questionable or probable, and the absences touch important spots at tight end, cornerback, defensive end and wide receiver.
Those injuries matter because this is the kind of conference opener where role changes can show up quickly, especially on defense and in the passing game. Coaches have already said they will adjust rotations and redistribute responsibilities to cover for the missing pieces, so the focus now is less on what Penn State has done through three games and more on how smoothly it can absorb the change when the schedule tightens up. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States Big Ten Opener Suddenly Carries A Major Offensive Question
Penn States Big Ten opener against Wisconsin now comes with a little more uncertainty than the Nittany Lions probably wanted, because two starters on offense showed up questionable on the leagues latest availability report. Offensive lineman Brock Riker and tight end Andrew Rappleyea are both in question heading into kickoff, which matters for a group that wants to settle in quickly as conference play begins.
If either one is unable to go, Penn State would have to lean on its depth in some key spots. Vaea Ikakoula is among the options at center, while Ben Brahmer and Gabe Burkle are in line to handle more work at tight end. The final word will come two hours before kickoff, leaving the Lions with at least one more nerve-wracking wait before the matchup is fully set. [Read more 🡒]