Penn State’s first year under Matt Campbell has already reached the point where the roster is forcing hard decisions, and a few of the most obvious ones are tied to the Iowa State pipeline that helped shape this team in the first place.
The latest example came in the Week 6 loss to USC, when safety Marcus Neal Jr. was benched after opening the game on the sideline and not playing a snap. Neal, one of the more highly regarded transfers from Ames to Happy Valley, had already dropped out of the rotation in Week 5 before disappearing entirely against the Trojans.
His slide has fit a larger pattern. Since Big Ten play began, Neal has been beaten in coverage, and the low point came when he was the player who fell on Wisconsin’s 72-yard game-winning touchdown. The jump to this league has exposed him, and he’s far from the only former Cyclone who has run into that wall.
That’s the uncomfortable truth hanging over this Penn State roster: the core of it came with Campbell from his 8-4 Iowa State team, and that group has not been able to carry over into Big Ten success. The need for a reset is becoming hard to ignore.
Campbell’s situation was hardly ideal when he arrived. Athletic director Pat Kraft spent 54 days on the coaching search, and his late public miss on BYU’s Kalani Sitake meant Campbell lost the early signing period and had almost no time to prepare for the transfer portal. With the clock working against him and the options limited, familiarity ended up winning out.
Now, six games into a debut season that has started 3-3 and still hasn’t produced a Big Ten win, Campbell and his staff may need to move on from some of those familiar faces, even if the alternatives are thin.
On defense, Kooper Ebel and Jeremiah Cooper have become impossible to keep leaning on.
Campbell brought over a deep linebacker group from Iowa State’s 3-3-5, and there was enough confidence in that room that Caleb Bacon was moved to edge part-time. He’s back more at off-ball linebacker now, in part because Ebel has struggled so badly. That group was supposed to help anchor D’Anton Lynn’s defense as Penn State shifted into a more traditional 4-2-5.
Instead, the fit has been rough. The responsibilities are different, the space they’re asked to cover is different, and Ebel, Bacon and even backup Cael Brezina have not consistently shown the sideline-to-sideline speed needed at this level.
Ebel’s problems go beyond the schematic adjustment. He has been the starting MIKE linebacker with the green dot, but tackling has been a major issue. He led the team in missed tackles in Week 5 when Northwestern piled up 400 rushing yards, and he wasn’t much better against USC, playing only 46 of Penn State’s 64 defensive snaps.
The missed-tackle problem didn’t end there. Against USC, Jeremiah Cooper took over the role from the third level after Zion Tracy, Penn State’s multi-year starter at nickel, moved back to safety. Cooper fared even worse in coverage, giving up two touchdowns with little resistance.
At this point, Penn State needs to find out what it has with younger players. There aren’t many obvious answers behind Ebel and Cooper, and some of the depth options are more Iowa State transfers, but the staff can’t keep waiting on names that have already lost their hold on the job.
Benjamin Brahmer has been a useful piece on offense, and Chase Sowell looks capable at the Big Ten level, even if not ideally as a No. 1 receiver. But the defense is a different story. The players from Ames who are struggling are struggling, and the leash they earned from past production has run out.
That makes it worth considering a few switches. Alex Tatsch could take the green dot when he’s healthy and line up next to Tony Rojas. Redshirt freshman Xxavier Thomas could get a look at safety to back up Tracy and Jamison Patton, another Iowa State transfer who has played better than Cooper.
Even if those changes don’t make the defense any better right away, Penn State would at least learn whether those younger pieces can matter next season. Ebel and Cooper are not long-term answers, and Cooper is out of eligibility after 2026.
The criticism isn’t limited to defense, either. Left guard Trevor Buhr and running back Carson Hansen have also drawn heat for their play.
Hansen at least has some interesting options behind him, but the interior offensive line, with Buhr and Texas State transfer center Brock Riker, has been so unstable that the running game has nowhere to go. With Will Tompkins injured, Penn State may simply be stuck with Buhr for now.
In Other News...
Penn State Still Feels The Fallout From One Costly Decision
Penn States coaching change in October 2025 set off a stretch of uncertainty that still shapes how the program is being judged today. James Franklin was dismissed after a third straight Big Ten loss, and what followed was a 54-day search that eventually landed on Matt Campbell. The move gave the Nittany Lions a fresh start on the sideline, but it also came with the kind of scrutiny that never really disappears once a high-profile job opens up.
The process drew plenty of attention along the way, including interest in Bob Chesney and Kalani Sitake, and it has only sharpened the conversation around athletic director Pat Krafts decisions. Penn State opened the next season 3-0, but the losses that followed knocked the team out of College Football Playoff contention and left the program dealing with the bigger question of whether the right call was made when the search finally ended. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Used White Out Weekend To Turn Up Recruiting Pressure
White Out weekend has long been Penn States best stage for making a first impression, and this years recruiting version leaned hard into that advantage. More than 100 prospects came through campus, giving the staff a chance to showcase the atmosphere to a group that included most of the 2027 class and several highly regarded 2028 players. Eighteen of the 22 committed players in that 2027 group were on hand, a useful sign for a class that is currently ranked No. 20 nationally.
The event also gave Penn State a chance to keep pushing ahead while the calendar still has room to shift. Along with hosting the visitors, the program handed out new offers to players in the 2028, 2029 and 2030 classes, widening the board while the buzz from the weekend was still fresh. For a staff that knows how much the White Out setting can matter, the message was clear: the pressure is on now, long before these recruiting battles reach the finish line. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Backfield Battle Just Got More Complicated After White Out Loss
Penn States White Out loss to USC did more than sting on the scoreboard. It also offered a clearer look at how the Nittany Lions are sorting through their backfield rotation, with the snap counts from the game showing some shifting usage in the run game as the staff continues to search for the right mix.
Marcus Neal Jr. was also out of the lineup, and coach Matt Campbell pointed to the game plan as part of the reason his role changed. Campbell said the defensive approach leaned more heavily toward coverage than tackling ability, which helps explain why Neal did not see the field in that matchup. [Read more 🡒]