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Matt Campbell, Saquon Barkley to Headline Penn State NIL Event in Philadelphia

Campbell, Barkley, Trace McSorley and more are scheduled to participate in Happy Valley United's NIL meet-and-greet.
Mark Wogenrich|
Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell looks on from the field during the Blue-White Spring Practice at Beaver Stadium.
Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell looks on from the field during the Blue-White Spring Practice at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

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With the spring college footballl recruiting season in high gear, Penn State coach Matt Campbell is hitting the road to make a different pitch. Campbell will appear in Philadelphia this week to meet with fans and donors as part of the latest NIL event sponsored by Happy Valley United, Penn State's official collective.

Campbell is scheduled to appear at the "We Are in Philly" event May 7 at the Union League of Philadelphia. The Penn State football coach will headline an event featuring assistant head coach Terry Smith and former Nittany Lions Saquon Barkley, Trace McSorley, Mike Gesicki, Christian Hackenberg, Grant Haley and Adam Taliaferro.

Tickets to the meet are $350 for general admission and $225 for "young professionals" 21-30. According to the event's website, tickets to the VIP opportunities are sold out.

The NIL fundraiser is the second event in which Campbell will appear on behalf of the Nittany Lions. He was in Pittsburgh for Happy Valley United's pre-NFL Draft meet and will be at HVU's annual "We Are at the Shore" event in June.

The Phildelphia event also benefits Barkley's charitable organization, the Michael Ann & Saquon Barkley Hope Foundation. Barkley also participated in last year's "We Are in Philly" event.

Campbell has made connecting, and sometimes reconnecting, Penn State football and its lettermen a mission of his first months as the Nittany Lions' head coach. He began by conducting Zoom calls with former Penn State players and then invited lettermen for weekly visits to State College during spring drills.

“We want to continue to build a culture of what Penn State should be, what it has been and what it needs to be going forward,” said Smith, himself a letterman. “And what better way [to do that] than to bring these legends in that can give their knowledge, their stories and their experience to help our guys grow and get better.”

Campbell, who has called Penn State's lettermen the historic backbone of the program, is doing fan outreach as well. After the Blue-White Spring Practice in the rain at Beaver Stadium, Campbell said he was moved by the crowd that both showed up and stayed.

"I just think every opportunity to show our young men in our program how special it is to play here at Penn State and what it means," Campbell said. "I don't know if it's anything that I learned because I think it's one of the things that I've been absolutely grateful for from the day that I've touched down here, is understanding it's bigger than me, it's bigger than our players. What we get to represent and what we are training to be able to represent every fall Saturday is really powerful.

"The Kids Clinic [on Friday night before practice] was unbelievable. Almost 500 kids in our indoor facility, and to be able to watch the and see and feel the energy walking into this stadium today, there's not many places that you get to be able to be a part of something like this."

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.

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