Penn State Football Loses Just Three Players On The Transfer Portal’s Opening Day
College football experienced one of its noisiest days of the year Monday with the opening of the transfer portal window. Stars from big schools and small schools alike threw their name into the pot to see where they could land to continue their collegiate careers. The portal will be open through January 2, though that date only defines the final day that players can enter their name into the portal, not when they can select a new school.
For Penn State football, however, the day was as quiet as it can get for most football programs. The Nittany Lions went the entire day without losing any of their big stars and lost just three players in total. Punter Alex Bacchetta, wide receiver Cristian Driver, and cornerback Jace Tutty each announced their intentions to leave Penn State on Monday. The Nittany Lions’ talent loss was minimal compared to that of other programs.
Ohio State watched as at least a dozen players announce their decision to leave Columbus, including some big-name players. Kyle McCord, the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback, announced his intention to leave the program along with wide receiver Julian Fleming, running back Evan Pryor, safety Cam Martinez, defensive end Omari Abor, and several others.
Texas A&M, which recently suffered an expensive coaching change, had much of its highly-touted recruiting Class of 2022 announce its exit from the program. Walter Nolen, the top-rated player of the class in the 247Sports Composite, said he would depart. The team’s starting quarterback, Max Johnson, has already committed to North Carolina.
Even Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma’s starting quarterback, threw his name into the portal for the second time in his collegiate career. After Oklahoma’s October upset over Texas, Gabriel’s name was briefly thrown into the running for the Heisman trophy.
Luckily for James Franklin and those in the Lasch Building, Penn State’s moves thus far don’t seem like they’ll have much impact. Bacchetta spent his two years in Happy Valley backing up two different punters: Barney Amor and Riley Thompson. Driver was a defensive back in high school and his transition to wide receiver in college never seemed to pan out. Tutty, a run-on, only played a few snaps with Penn State and didn’t record any stats playing first-team football.
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