Penn State and Temple swing big in the college football transfer portal. Here’s what to know.

Some are calling Penn State the Nittany Cyclones. Take one look at the Nittany Lions’ transfer portal additions and it is easy to see why.

Since the portal opened on Jan. 2, Penn State reportedly has added 35 players, and 22 of them are from Iowa State, following their former head coach Matt Campbell to Happy Valley.

That list includes Iowa State’s top passer (Rocco Becht), top rusher (Carson Hansen), three of its top receiving targets (Chase Sowell, Benjamin Brahmer, and Brett Eskildsen), two of the three top tacklers (Marcus Neal and Caleb Bacon), and two of the three top interception leaders (Neal and Jamison Patton).

In addition, Penn State brought in Becht’s backup, Alex Manske, to be the potential future quarterback after 2026. Brahmer’s backups at tight end, Greg Burkle and Cooper Alexander, are also joining the Nittany Lions.

However, 50 players from Penn State’s roster in 2025 had entered the portal as of Monday night, meaning Campbell and his staff have their work cut out for them to continue to build up the roster for next season and beyond. Among those key departures include Chaz Coleman, Zuriah Fisher, Ethan Grunkemeyer, Amare Campbell, Dejuan Lane, King Mack, A.J. Harris, and Luke Reynolds.

» READ MORE: Penn State adds Ikaika Malloe and Tyson Veidt to coaching staff

But the staff has also retained 33 players from last season’s roster, including starters Anthony Donkoh, Tony Rojas, Audavion Collins, Ryan Barker, and Zion Tracy, along with several other key contributors like Max Granville, Andrew Rappleyea, Cooper Cousins, and prized freshmen Koby Howard and Daryus Dixson.

Outside of Becht and some key starters who transferred in from Iowa State, Penn State added potential key contributors in UCLA defensive tackles Keanu Williams and Siale Taupaki, both of whom worked closely with new defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe, and Ohio State running back James Peoples, who scored three touchdowns this season.

The Nittany Lions also made additions along the offensive line, which is losing four of its five starters from last year. Brock Riker, a redshirt freshman who started at center for Texas State last season, is transferring to Penn State, and allowed just six pressures over 800 snaps in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus. Along with Riker, Iowa State transfer offensive lineman Trevor Buhr brings in starting experience at left guard, while several offensive linemen from the Cyclones’ roster, including Will Tompkins, Vaea Ikakoula, and Kuol Kuol II, figure to be part of the future.

Since the portal opened, Penn State ranks third in 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings and is up to 49th in the site’s overall team rankings.

After pulling in the largest high school recruiting class in school history in December, Temple isn’t done adding to its roster for next season and beyond, utilizing the transfer portal to pick up some key players.

The school had added 20 players through the portal as of Monday, with 11 of them coming from Power Four schools. Two of the additions were quarterbacks who could compete for the starting quarterback position next season.

Among the transfers is running back Samuel Brown V, who played at La Salle College High School and spent four seasons at Rutgers. Brown burst on the scene as freshman for the Scarlet Knights, posting a 101-yard rushing game before suffering a season-ending injury seven games into the campaign. He was buried on the depth chart behind Kyle Monangai and Antwon Raymond the next three seasons and totaled 828 yards and eight touchdowns in 28 games.

A few other players from the area or New Jersey are also transferring to Temple. Illinois safety Saboor Karriem (West Orange, N.J.), Albany defensive lineman Deshon Dodson (Neumann Goretti), and Central Florida defensive back Jaeden Gould (Somerset, N.J.) join Brown as players with ties to the region.

Temple also is bringing in former Penn State quarterback Jaxon Smolik and Washington State signal caller Ajani Sheppard, neither of whom has starting experience.

» READ MORE: Villanova is losing key starters from its FCS semifinal team. Could the transfer portal be an option to retool?

Sheppard began his career at Rutgers, where he intersected with Evan Simon, and played 37 snaps, attempted two passes, and had four rushes for 34 yards in two seasons. He did not see the field at Washington State in 2025.

Smolik was buried on Penn State’s depth chart behind Drew Allar and Beau Pribula in 2023, was out for the season with an injury in 2024, and appeared in just three games in 2025 after losing the backup role to Grunkemeyer in the preseason. He has never attempted a pass in a college game and rushed four times in a loss to Iowa earlier this season before leaving that game with a wrist injury.

The duo joins a quarterback corps full of young, inexperienced players, including rising sophomore Camren Boykin along with incoming recruits Lamar Best, Brody Norman, and Brady Palmer. Boykin did not appear in a game in 2025, and the program lost Simon, Gevani McCoy, and Anthony Chiccitt to graduation while Tyler Douglas and Patrick Keller entered the portal. Smolik and Sheppard will likely have the chance to compete for the starting role during the spring and potentially summer camp, as McCoy and Simon did last year.

K.C. Keeler and the Owls pulled in four players from Penn State (Smolik, Kaleb Artis, Kolin Dinkins, and Joey Schlaffer) and three from Rutgers (Brown, John Stone, and Zach Aamland).

Of the positions the Owls restocked the most, the line, secondary, and wide receiver seem to be a heavy focus. All three offensive linemen (Stone, Aamland, Louisville’s Ransom McDermott) and safeties (Karriem, Gould, Dinkins) came from Power Four schools, while just one of the four defensive linemen and wide receiver transfers was a Power Four addition.

The portal additions included players from the Football Championship Subdivision (Lafayette DL Jaylon Joseph, Stony Brook WR Jayce Freeman, Albany’s Dodson) and Division II (Midwestern State WR Demonte Greene, Tiffin DL Kevin Hornbeak).