{"id":72568,"date":"2025-02-23T09:00:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T14:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=72568"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:32:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:32:59","slug":"return-of-the-mack-at-penn-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/02\/23\/return-of-the-mack-at-penn-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Return of the Mack at Penn State"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following Penn State\u2019s College Football Playoff (CFP) semifinal loss<\/a> to Notre Dame, changes have been fast and furious.\u00a0 For instance, on offense, the receiving corps will look a lot different<\/a>.\u00a0 Additionally, despite the return of both star running backs<\/a> Nick Singleton<\/a> and Kaytron Allen<\/a>, they will be led by a new running back coach<\/a>.\u00a0 On the other side of the ball, there will be a new defensive coordinator<\/a> in Happy Valley.\u00a0 With Jim Knowles taking the reins of the defense, there are more questions in the defensive backfield than the luxuries that Tom Allen had last season.\u00a0 To help at the safety position, head coach James Franklin and Knowles will allow the Return of the Mack at Penn State.\u00a0 Safety King Mack<\/a> returns to Happy Valley as a transfer from Alabama.<\/p>\n

Penn State’s Portal Prowess<\/h3>\n

Penn State is a program that has not traditionally participated much in the transfer portal.\u00a0 Franklin has mentioned numerous times that Penn State has been cautious in utilizing the portal for fear of upsetting the culture in the locker room.\u00a0 However, that has changed a bit recently.\u00a0 Last season, lineman Nolan Rucci<\/a>, who transferred from Wisconsin, did a great job filling in for injured right tackle Anthony Donkoh<\/a>.\u00a0 Through that, he cemented a key role on the line for this upcoming season.\u00a0 More importantly, Rucci showed that the transfer portal can work for Penn State.<\/p>\n

Mack is not the only player that joins Penn State through the portal for this upcoming season.\u00a0 He joins Owen Wafle (defensive lineman from Michigan) and Enai White (edge from Texas A&M) on the defensive side of the ball.\u00a0 On offense, TJ Shanahan (offensive lineman from Texas A&M), Devonte Ross (receiver from Troy), and Kyron Hudson (receiver from USC) will join the squad.\u00a0 The increased willingness to take on transferees shows the push for Penn State to improve on last season\u2019s semifinal performance.<\/p>\n

Return of the Mack at Penn State<\/h2>\n

By transferring to Penn State, King Mack returns to Happy Valley.\u00a0 Mack started his collegiate career with the Nittany Lions.\u00a0 In 2023, he appeared in all 13 games, primarily on special teams.\u00a0 He produced three tackles.\u00a0 However, Mack transferred to Alabama as a post-spring transfer.\u00a0 With the Crimson Tide in 2024, Mack produced 14 tackles. He was not able to crack the regular rotation on defense.<\/p>\n

After the one-year hiatus in Tuscaloosa, Mack now returns to Penn State looking to maximize his remaining two years of eligibility.\u00a0 He comes back to play for Co-Defensive Coordinator\/Safety Coach Anthony Poindexter.\u00a0 Poindexter has developed strong safeties at Penn State, and Mack will look to continue the tradition of players like Ji’Ayir Brown<\/a>, KJ Winston<\/a>, and Jaylen Reed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fit for a King<\/h3>\n

What is most important for both Penn State and Mack is where he will fit in the defensive rotation.\u00a0 Exiting from last season\u2019s safety rotation, a position of strength<\/a>, are Winston and Reed, who are both preparing for the NFL Draft.\u00a0 Returning safety Zakee Wheatley<\/a> should have one of the starting safety spots locked down.\u00a0 Beyond that, Mack joins a relatively young but well-regarded safety room.<\/p>\n

When Winston was lost to a long-term injury<\/a> last season, Reed and Wheatley stepped up to take on leadership roles.\u00a0 Also stepping up into a key backup role was Dejuan Lane<\/a>.\u00a0 He enters this offseason\u2019s competition for playing time with a leg-up given last year’s valuable experience with the team.\u00a0 However, this advantage will be somewhat muted with Knowles coming in with a fresh perspective<\/a> as the new defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

With the Return of the Mack at Penn State, opportunities abound.\u00a0 Mack can make an immediate impact.\u00a0 He has been with Penn State, and Franklin and Poindexter, before.\u00a0 Mack also brings experience from an SEC program.\u00a0 This will all help him as he looks to quickly establish himself as a valuable contributor, following in the transfer portal blueprint of success from Rucci last season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Image: Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following Penn State\u2019s College Football Playoff (CFP) semifinal loss to Notre Dame, changes have been fast and furious.\u00a0 For instance, on offense, the receiving corps will look a lot different.\u00a0 Additionally, despite the return of both star running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, they will be led by a new running back coach.\u00a0 On […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5172,"featured_media":72576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,35610],"tags":[35,7599,34906,34904,837,3406,34166,34903,3440,309,34905,1073],"class_list":["post-72568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bigten","category-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-alabama-crimson-tide","tag-anthony-poindexter","tag-devonte-ross","tag-enai-white","tag-james-franklin","tag-jim-knowles","tag-kyron-hudson","tag-owen-wafle","tag-penn-state-defense","tag-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-tj-shanahan","tag-tom-allen"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72568"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72577,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72568\/revisions\/72577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}