He Transferred From Penn State to Alabama. Why King Mack Is a Nittany Lion Again

The Penn State safety, and electric kick returner, explains why he chose to return to Penn State after one season with the Crimson Tide.

Penn State's King Mack (16) sings the alma mater with teammates Kaytron Allen (13) and Jack Lambert (19) during the 2025 Blue-White Game at Beaver Stadium. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

STATE COLLEGE | Home doesn’t have to be the place where you grew up because King Mack feels most at home in Beaver Stadium. But last season Mack wasn’t on the Penn State football team; he was in Alabama playing for Kalen DeBoer in his first year coaching the Crimson Tide. 

Mack played in all 13 games for Penn State as a true freshman in 2023 but transferred to Alabama the following offseason. The safety played primarily on special teams and saw little action on defense for the Nittany Lions and thought transferring would give him a better opportunity. Yet after one season in Tuscaloosa, Mack returned to Penn State. 

“A lot of people, they get caught up in being a freshman, a top recruit and instantly making an impact in college,” said Mack, who was rated as a four-star prospect by 247Sports. “What I realized is that your coaches, they’re going to put you in the best situation that they feel [is] for you, and I didn’t fully see that as a freshman. But once I got to Alabama, I realized that [Penn State safeties] coach [Anthony Poindexter] and the rest of the coaches honestly did put me in the best situation.”

It didn’t take long for Mack to receive a proper welcome back from the Beaver Stadium crowd, either. In the second quarter of the opener vs. Nevada, Mack turned on his speed, reaching 20 miles per hour for a 73-yard kickoff return that made the home crowd erupt. 

“I missed it so much,” Mack said. “That Beaver Stadium pulse is different.”

College Football’s Fastest Players of Week 1:

9️⃣ @PennStateFball SAF King Mack (@kingmack2004) hits 20.1 MPH

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🔗 https://t.co/UFKB2eWAzC | #ReelSpeed pic.twitter.com/gvd44hp5lH

— Reel Analytics (@RAanalytics) September 2, 2025

On the sideline, Franklin hugged Mack and told him, “That’s why you came home.”

“He made a mistake, left [for Alabama], figured it out and came back,” Franklin said after Penn State defeated Nevada 46-11. “He got a huge play for us.”

Cheering the Nittany Lions from Alabama

Penn State safety Zion Tracy (7) talks with linebacker King Mack (9) following the 2024 Blue-White Game at Beaver Stadium. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

Alabama had a bye week when Penn State played Ohio State last November. ESPN College Gameday and FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff took over the parking lots around Beaver Stadium, and the hype surrounding the game took over college football conversations across the nation. Meanwhile, Mack was getting treatment in the Alabama training room and watching. 

“Zion [Tracy] caught the pick-6, and I’m in there screaming,” Mack said at Penn State’s media day in August. 

Tracy and the other members of the 2023 recruiting class, including Tony Rojas, Ty Blanding and Elliot Washington II, created a brotherhood that Mack said he couldn’t replicate with his Crimson Tide teammates. Transferring back to Penn State was a no-brainer, and Mack and Tracy are now roommates this season. 

“We’re so tight, like we’ve all been through the blood, sweat and tears together,” Mack said. “Leaving those guys and going somewhere else and starting over, it was hard because I didn’t have the same bond at Alabama that I had with my guys here.”

An unwavering relationship with James Franklin 

Penn State safety King Mack (9) tackles Delaware running back Saeed St. Fleur during a 2023 game at Beaver Stadium. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

Mack entered the transfer portal while Penn State was still chasing the 2024 national championship title. Franklin was the first coach to call and told Mack he “shouldn’t have left.” That was all Mack needed to hear. 

“The love I have for coach Franklin is unconditional,” Mack said in August. “Once I got that phone call from him to come back home, I already knew, it’s time for me to come back home. There was no question, there was no doubt. The relationship I have with, not even [just] coach Franklin, coach Poindexter, literally all the coaches, it’s like a father figure.”

Asked whether Franklin was right, Mack said, "100 percent."

Chasing the rabbit and developing

Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back King Mack (5) breaks up a pass indeed for Western Kentucky wide receiver Kisean Johnson (0) at Bryant-Denny Stadium. | Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images

Mack said the key to being a good kick returner is to have confidence and speed. 

“You can’t go into the return thinking too much,” he said. “Once you see a hole or a seam, you have to just run full speed. I always think of it as chasing a rabbit, and the rabbit is that person who’s blocking. So whatever hole that he sees, you hit right behind him. All gas, no brakes.”

And he’s speaking from experience; Mack has actually chased rabbits before in Florida. He’s from Miami and played three years for national power St. Thomas Aquinas, which won three state titles during his time there.

Playing in the SEC for one season allowed Mack to grow as a safety, exposing him to different schemes and improving his football IQ. Mack said that Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ scheme, though challenging to learn, has been his favorite.

“He’s honestly teaching us an NFL defense and he wants us to be able to communicate,” Mack said. “His defense is very schematic. You have to know your job. … I honestly love the defense.”

Mack expanded his defensive role in Penn State's 34-0 shutout over FIU in Week 2, playing 33 snaps, triple the number he saw for the opener. During the offseason, Mack (5-10, 188 pounds) sought to improve on his man-coverage skills because he realized, though he isn’t the biggest or strongest player, he could become the smartest.

Franklin expects the defense to play more confidently and faster as the season progresses, and Penn State has only one more non-conference game left with Saturday's matchup with Villanova. 

Mack said that he and the rest of the 2023 class were brought — or, in his case, returned — to Penn State for a reason.  

“Honestly, we’re all just dogs,” Mack said. “We bring that mentality and that energy and that swagger to the team that we need.”