The hiring of new coach Matt Campbell and the reworked early-January NCAA Transfer Portal window has made this an unprecedented month for the Penn State football roster. The additions, subtractions and retentions are enough to set one’s head spinning.

Add in the upcoming late signing period for high school prospects, and things have become even more maddening. So we’re here to add a little order to the situation with our position-by-position projections for Penn State’s 2026 roster.

The overall idea here is to let you know where the Nittany Lions stand in terms of projected personnel for next season based on three factors:

1. Who is back. These are holdovers from the 2025 season who have either announced they are returning and/or are on the newly released winter roster.

2. Who is new. These include players from the NCAA Transfer Portal and high school prospects who have indicated they will sign with Penn State (or have already done so).

3. Who is gone. These are players who have exhausted their eligibility, made an early entry into the NFL Draft, have entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, or have given up the sport.

This will give you a feel for the projected talent Campbell and company have at each position, and by extension where they still need help. Note that this is a very fluid situation, and we will be making additions (and probably subtractions) to our projected roster. The numbers should be more solid after the portal closes Jan. 17. We will get more clarity on how PSU will count walk-ons toward the new 105-man roster at that point, as well. 

Also, this is NOT an indicator of everyone who will be on hand for spring practice. There are players on this roster who will not arrive until after the spring semester. We will address that topic in another piece down the road.

Where uniform numbers are available, we list players numerically. Otherwise we list them by college experience (most to least). For new faces we have subdivisions of portal additions and high school recruits. Same goes for departed former Lions — NFL Draft, eligibility exhaustion, retirement then portal.

As of this posting (the late evening of Jan. 10), these were the overall projected numbers for Penn State’s 2026 roster. They involve defensive lineman Enai White and running back Tikey Hayes.

PENN STATE PROJECTED 2026 ROSTER (98)

OVERALL: 97

OFFENSE: 46

DEFENSE: 46

SPECIAL TEAMS: 5

SCHOLARSHIP: 82

WALK-ON: 15

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