How Matt Campbell Plans to Build Penn State's Quarterbacks Room

The Nittany Lions coach took pride in how his staff recruited and developed quarterbacks at Iowa State.

Matt Campbell is announced as the Penn State Nittany Lions new head coach during a press conference at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

After building his new Penn State football staff, head coach Matt Campbell will set about identifying who leads his offense next season. Campbell will have plenty of options at quarterback, both from his current Nittany Lions roster and from Iowa State.

But what is Campbell looking for in a starting quarterback? And how will differ at Penn State from Iowa State? Let Campbell explain.

"Everybody likes fast, everybody likes arm strength, but those things don’t win," Campbell said. "What wins is grit, toughness, character and the ability to lead others around. The locker room always know who the quarterback should be."

The quarterback position will be fascinating to watch on Campbell's first Penn State roster. The Nittany Lions have three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster eligible to return, though none is guaranteed to do so. That includes Ethan Grunkemeyer, a redshirt freshman who improved dramatically from his first start against Iowa to the regular-season finale at Rutgers.

Campbell also could bring in a quarterback through the transfer portal, notably Rocco Becht, his three-year starter at Iowa State. According to ESPN, Becht underwent surgery on his non-throwing shoulder after the regular season (Campbell said Becht sustained a torn labrum) but is expected to make a full recovery.

Penn State has two other scholarship quarterbacks (Jaxon Smolik and Bekkem Kritza) on the roster and two quarterbacks in its 2026 recruiting class. The position group will take a new shape under offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser and a new quarterbacks coach, potentially Jake Waters from Iowa State.

Still, Campbell grounds his view of the position in specific terms that will guide his recruiting and development process. And like most head coaches, he requires himself to have a strong relationship with his starter.

RELATED: Penn State's roster expected to undergo significant change for 2026

Could a Cylcone transfer to Penn State?

Iowa State Cyclones quarterback Rocco Becht runs during the second half against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

Campbell cited his staff's ability to recruit and develop quarterbacks at Iowa State as a source of pride. The headliner was Brock Purdy, who twice led the Big 12 in passing yards and threw for a school-record completion rate of 71.7 percent in 2021.

Purdy owns or shares 32 Iowa State records and is the San Francisco 49ers' starter after being drafted last overall in 2022. He was the prototype Campbell quarterback: a three-star recruit who developed into a gifted passer and ran the offense smartly.

Campbell also has developed quarterbacks like Kyle Kempt, a former walk-on who rose to promience in 2017, when he threw for 343 yards and three touchdowns in the Cylcones' 38-31 win over then-No. 3 Oklahoma and Baker Mayfield.

"To me, that’s been one of our great successes during our time at Iowa State, is always being able to find a quarterback and develop a quarterback to be really special," Campbell said. "It’s been the difference-maker, from fourth-string walk-on Kyle Kempt ... [who] all of the sudden wins eight games and he never started a game in his career but we got him there, to having obviously Brock and what he did to where Rocco is in his career."

Becht is an intriguing transfer prospect for Penn State. He's a three-year starter at Iowa State who threw for 3,505 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2024. The Cyclones were 5-0 and ranked 14th this season when they lost to Cincinnati 38-30, after which Becht was diagnosed with the shoulder injury.

Becht played through that and other injuries, and Campbell said he "would go down as the winningest quarterback in the history of Iowa State football." The two also forged a relationship that likely would travel well.

"For me, quarterback is funny. It’s fit," Campbell said. "It's the relationship with the head coach. The head coach and the quarterback better be linked at the hip. The quarterback and the head coach get all the blame and they probably get all the credit when on both sides of it, that’s not always true. But they’d better be linked at the hip."

'The future of the position'

I had a great time visiting Iowa State University today. Thank you to all of the coaches and staff that made it a great experience. @ISUMattCampbell @CoachTomManning @CoachJGordo @NatashaMNovak @BradMaendler @OHSBravesFB @CoachBart11 pic.twitter.com/qRT346y2Sj

— Ethan Grunkemeyer (@e_grunkemeyer) March 31, 2022

Campbell also seeks to develop relationships with Penn State's current quarterbacks, notably Grunkemeyer. As a high school quarterback in Ohio, Grunkemeyer made two recruiting trips to Ames, Iowa, so he has a relationship with Campbell. Grunkemeyer also would fit Campbell's requirement for an accurate, tough quarterback who is a natural leader.

Aside from an uneven game against Michigan State, Grunkemeyer improved weekly during his six-game starting run for the Nittany Lions. He completed 71 percent of his passes against Indiana, going 7-for-10 in the fourth quarter, and went a combined 28-for-33 in the Nittany Lions' wins over Michigan State and Rutgers.

Penn State interim coach Terry Smith has called Grunkemeyer "the future of the position for us," and Grunkemeyer sounded open to what a new coach might offer.

"I just really want to sit down with him and see what the plan is," Grunkemeyer said after Penn State's win over Rutgers. "Just talk to him about my future and what he sees me doing and just seeing what he does as a coach and how we can develop that way."

Penn State's 2026 recruiting class has two quarterbacks, one of whom Campbell initially recruited to Iowa State. Campbell called 3-star prospect Kase Evans "one of the great steals in this class" when he was still the Cyclones' head coach. Campbell convinced Evans, who threw for 11,640 career yards, to leave Texas for Penn State.

Campbell also has a 2026 quarterback who he didn't recruit. Peyton Falzone, a 4-star prospect from Pennsylvania, signed with Penn State in early December before Campbell got the job.

"... I'm ready to just go play as hard as I can for whatever coach comes in," Falzone said before Campbell was hired. "They’re going to get a quarterback who’s going to do whatever it takes to win."

As he builds a new quarterback room at Penn State, Campbell will do so believing that they will be "linked at the hip," as he said.

"I feel like the quarterback has got to have the leadership ability, the toughness and the grit to control the locker room," Campbell said. "I think you’re always looking for the right intangibles that way."

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