Penn State’s summer program has a clear target, and Reid Kagy isn’t hiding it.
The Nittany Lions’ new director of strength and conditioning said Wednesday at Lift For Life that he wants this team to become the “most violent team” in college football. At the same time, he’s pushing for something just as important in his eyes: a group that is tightly connected.
That dual mission has to fit inside a limited summer window. Penn State gets only eight hours per week for workouts, so Kagy said the staff has to be selective about where it spends its time.
“If there's something in the program that's either not dialed in towards one of those two things, it's probably a waste of our time,” Kagy said Wednesday at Lift For Life. “We don't have endless time with our guys, so we got to focus on the big rocks.
They're going to make an impact on the field and keep them on the field. We're going to make sure we hammer away on those.”
Kagy’s approach is built around performance and durability. He said the traits Penn State is tracking include power, speed, strength, resiliency, toughness, grit and fortitude, with Catapult vests helping the staff monitor those metrics. The idea is to show players measurable physical growth while also helping them “build up armor” so they can absorb hits and stay available.
Lift For Life gave the first public look at one of Kagy’s summer sessions, and it had the feel of a hard-working conditioning day. Players went through drills that included a medicine-ball relay, a sled push, pull-ups and more.
The summer work, Kagy said, is all about getting ready for fall camp. The players understand that what they’re doing now is meant to carry over once the season arrives.
“I think building really good habits is really important in the summer,” linebacker Cael Brezina said. “Coach Campbell harps on it a lot, like, ‘Man, what you do right now, the season's gonna come calling at some point, and it's gonna ask if what you were doing in the summer was doing the right stuff.’”
Kagy’s focus isn’t only physical. He also wants Penn State to keep deepening the bonds inside the locker room, saying the “most together teams” tend to be the most successful ones. That’s one reason the Nittany Lions began training together in January.
When asked which players have stood out, Kagy didn’t single anyone out. Instead, he pointed to the group as a whole and the way it has come together.
“The thing that stood out to me the most is just the entire team embracing and coming together as a team,” Kagy said. “From the relationship standpoint, what they've done as a team, how they've come together, how they fight for each other, how they care about each other is probably the most important thing.”
He also said he’s still learning the roster so he can “push the right buttons at the right time.” Penn State has 55 new players this season, and Iowa State transfer Jamison Patton said the summer workouts are another chance to spend time around teammates.
Kagy is also making sure the program’s history stays visible. He said the record board in the weight room at the Lasch Football Building will remain, with the goal of honoring the alumni who set those marks and giving current players something to chase.
“We're trying to get faster, we're trying to get stronger, we're trying to be more powerful, we're trying to have the ability to repeat efforts,” Kagy said. “We're trying to be disciplined, tough, physical on the field.”
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Penn State Just Took Another Painful In-State Recruiting Hit At Receiver
Penn State has spent the summer trying to keep the best in-state talent from slipping away in the 2028 cycle, and the latest blow came at a position the program badly wants to strengthen. Jett Harrison, one of Pennsylvanias top wide receiver prospects and a major national recruit, had long been one of the names to watch for the Nittany Lions, especially with family ties that made him an obvious fit on paper.
Instead, the focus now shifts to what comes next, because Penn State is still waiting on another key in-state receiver decision in the 2027 class. Khalil Taylor remains on the board, though the Lions are facing a real fight there as well, even while they continue working to upgrade the receiver room through transfers and coaching changes. For a program trying to build momentum at a critical spot, the margin for error in Pennsylvania keeps getting thinner. [Read more 🡒]
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The timing made the backdrop even more interesting. Another four-star quarterback, Trey Tagliaferri, had been in the mix before his own recruitment took a different turn, leaving Penn State to move forward with Armstrong as its choice. Armstrong has been open about his confidence in the support hes getting from the coaching staff, and that kind of trust often matters as much as any ranking when a school is trying to lock in its next signal-caller. [Read more 🡒]