Penn State may be heading into Matt Campbell’s first season without its captains set in stone just yet.
Campbell said Wednesday that the team is “still working through” the decision for 2026, backing off the timeline he floated last week when he said he hoped to have the captains locked in before the first game.
“I think we’re still working through that and it might be a thing where we put finality to that, probably a little bit later in the season,” Campbell said. “We talked about it, and I think we’ll kind of navigate that.
It’s a unique time in this team, and I think there’s a lot of guys that certainly deserve the right to be that, especially when you saw the vote from a football team. So I think we’ll just kind of navigate that probably one game at a time as we get into it.”
Campbell indicated the players most likely to wear the “C” are seniors, though he made clear he’s looking for more than just age on the roster. He pointed to that group as the backbone of the leadership structure.
“Great leadership starts with your seniors, and that group has been tremendous. That group’s gone through the most change, and at a critical point in their careers,” Campbell said.
“When you’re talking about being a senior in college football - it’s really hard, and no matter how you got here, and no matter what that journey’s been like, you also hold an abundance of knowledge and wisdom, and the ability from that, from the top down, to start to kind of give back and infiltrate our team. I think it’s really important, and I you want that from your captains.”
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Penn State Camp Buzz Is Building Around A Few Key Names
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There is also competition brewing at safety, where Josiah Zayas is pushing for a starting spot, while quarterback Alex Manske has emerged as a player the offense may lean on in a meaningful way. Camp still has plenty of time to reshape roles, but the early buzz suggests Penn State is getting a clearer sense of which young players can handle bigger jobs when the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]