Matt Campbell didn’t just make room for Penn State’s special teams. He gave up part of his own office to do it.
When Campbell first stepped into his office at the Lasch Football Building, the space struck him as almost too large to be useful. The reaction was immediate.
“There was so much space in there, I said, ‘Holy smokes, what are we doing here?’” Campbell recalled of that initial tour.
That unused space eventually became the solution. After spring drills, Campbell had a construction crew put up a wall, shrinking his office and creating a new multi-purpose room for Penn State’s kickers, punters and returners. Last season, that group had been bouncing around to whatever empty room they could find just to watch film.
For Ryan Barker, the idea sounded almost unreal at first.
“I honestly didn’t believe it," kicker Ryan Barker said. "I was like, really?"
The move fits the way people around Campbell describe him. Offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser called him a “special, authentic guy” and “way funnier than people think.” In this case, the humor and the humility are baked into the same decision: the head coach literally surrendered office space so the specialists would have a place to work.
“We have limited staff room here, so obviously we would like to have a staff room and also use it for our punters and kickers and specialists to have a meeting room,” Campbell said. “So I think it'll be a great opportunity.”
Penn State’s special teams have already turned that opportunity into something meaningful. Justin Lustig said the new room is about more than convenience.
“It’s awesome,” Penn State special teams coordinator Justin Lustig said. “What a great message it sends to the players. It’s humility No. 1, and then selfishly, it's the importance of special teams, and that's so critical for these guys.
“A lot of these kids that come from high school and are maybe in their first year playing for us don't understand how important special teams are, not only to the team's success but for their future to play in the NFL and those things.”
The investment is going into a unit that was already strong in 2025, even in a season where little else went right. According to the ESPN College Football Power Index, Penn State’s special teams ranked No. 1 nationally.
The Nittany Lions posted an efficiency rating of 72.7, almost four points ahead of second-place Georgia Tech. Barker, a preseason Lou Groza Award nominee, tied for the best field-goal percentage in the country last season at 94.7 percent. He finished 18-for-19, with his only miss coming on a long attempt that was blocked.
Penn State also got major production from Gabe Nwosu, who finished with the Big Ten’s second-best punting average at 46.03 yards. Long snapper Tyler Duzansky has since signed with the Las Vegas Raiders, and Blaise Sokach-Minnick, who is set to take over that job, said Campbell’s decision landed exactly the way it was supposed to.
“It speaks for itself," he said. "He’s always going to be a players' first coach, and I've seen it over and over during the past seven months.
He will do anything to make us successful, and we are at the core of who he's trying to make better. It's an awesome feeling knowing the level of investment that he has in us, and it's awesome knowing that he has our backs no matter what.”
The room itself isn’t elaborate. Barker said it’s basically chairs, film equipment and enough space for everybody.
“We don't need to do all the flashy stuff," he said.
But the message behind it is loud. Barker said Campbell’s move makes clear that special teams are not an afterthought, and that comes with expectations attached.
“It shows us that special teams isn't a joke to him, and he's not going to mess around with it," Barker said. "And what goes with that is kind of feeling more responsibility to be as elite as possible. If he's giving us as many advantages and as many resources as possible, we feel the weight on our shoulders to perform.
“If he's going out of his way to do this stuff for us, it's exactly what we want to see as a player. The fact that he's instilling that belief system of, 'Special teams matters to us from day one,' that's awesome.”
In Other News...
Former Penn State Fan Favorite Is Rejoining James Franklin In Virginia
Journey Brown is back around football in a new capacity, and the move carries a familiar Penn State tie. Brown, who became a fan favorite during his brief career with the Nittany Lions before medically retiring in 2020 because of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, has joined James Franklins staff at Virginia Tech. Since stepping away from the game, Brown has worked in the NASCAR Cup Series, but his path has now taken him back toward the sport where he first made his name.
The exact title has not been announced yet, though he is expected to work with the running backs. For Penn State fans, it is a reminder of how much promise Brown brought to the field and how quickly his playing career ended, even as his football story continues in another form. Seeing him reunite with Franklin in Blacksburg adds another layer to a coaching staff that already has a clear Penn State imprint. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Still Faces A Big Ono Lineup Decision
Masanosuke Ono is expected to be part of Penn State wrestlings lineup this season, but the bigger question is where he lands. The uncertainty has lingered around whether he will settle in at 133 or 141 pounds, and Ono has already given the program a glimpse of what he can bring by beating Ohio States Ben Davino in a freestyle match.
For now, Ono is in the middle of the usual transition that comes with shifting from freestyle to folkstyle, and he says he is open to wrestling wherever the coaches place him. One option seems far less likely than the others, but the final call still matters for a Penn State lineup that is trying to sort out its best fit before the season gets rolling. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Fans Still See Terry Smith As The Programs Steadying Force
Terry Smith has spent years being one of the most visible and trusted voices in Penn State football, and that reputation has only grown after a turbulent stretch for the program. The longtime cornerbacks coach stepped in as interim head coach after James Franklin was fired, then guided the Nittany Lions through the rest of the season and into a Pinstripe Bowl win, giving fans and alumni a steady hand at a moment when the program could have easily drifted.
Even with Matt Campbell now in charge and athletic director Pat Kraft openly recognizing Smiths value, the reaction around the program has been hard to miss. Supporters continue to see him as more than an assistant coach, someone whose presence helped keep Penn State grounded when the pressure was at its highest, and whose role in whatever comes next still feels like one of the most important questions in State College. [Read more 🡒]