Penn State's Matt Campbell Values Retention, Is 'Excited' About Recruiting Direction

Matt Campbell went from having the best annual retention rate in college football at Iowa State to signing 40 players from the transfer portal at Penn State. He expected the whiplash. Campbell accepted the Penn State coaching job three days after Signing Day in December, and the portal was his primary roster-building tool.

For the future, though, Campbell expects to use that tool more judiciously. He maintains that retention drives success and plans to continue making it central to his roster-construction process.

"At the end of the day, we want to be great developers of the young men in our program," Campbell said in an appearance on the Goon & Ironhead Show. "We want to retain our players. We want to get our players to be great juniors and seniors, be great leaders and have the opportunity to finish their careers in our football program."

Campbell covered a wide range of topics in his interview with Jeff Byers and former Penn State offensive lineman Keith "Goon" Conlin. Among them was his plan to guide the Nittany Lions through a tough, physical training camp before the Sept. 5 opener against Marshall.

The first-year coach also covered some ground related to roster construction, sharing his views on retention, the portal and high school recruiting. In doing so, Campbell provided a glimpse at how he built the 2026 Penn State roster and how that might change for 2027 and beyond.

Retention is the priority

Penn State Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell looks on from behind the line of scrimmage during practice at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While Campbell signed 40 players from the portal (24 of whom followed him from Iowa State), he also did well in retention. Fifty-two Nittany Lions from the 2025 team stayed, including 11 seniors in their last seasons of eligibility.

Many of those players who stayed will be critical to Penn State's season, notably linebacker Tony Rojas, offensive linemen Anthony Donkoh and Cooper Cousins and running back Quinton Martin Jr. Campbell said that he and General Manager Derek Hoodjer framed much of their 2026 budget around retention.

"We're coming from a place [at Iowa State] where for the last seven years we’ve [had] the No. 1 retention rate in all of college football," Campbell said in the interview. "Where, we’re going to sign a young man out of high school, and that young man is the right kind of guy who fits our culture and stays in our culture and finishes.

" … I really feel like we have earned the right to do that because of the time and effort to figure out, what is the character of this human? ... In our profession, we get lost in rankings, we get lost in highlight films and we don’t put the time and effort to figure out what’s the character, what’s the integrity and what’s the passion of that player?"

As for the portal, Campbell knew it would be essential to his 2026 roster. He's also proud that 11 of the 24 Cyclones who joined him at Penn State are seniors. That includes quarterback Rocco Becht, receiver Chase Sowell and linebacker Caleb Bacon. In the future, though, he'll wants the portal to be a tool to sharpen the roster, not fill it.

"Are we going to use the portal? We will," Campbell said. "If there’s a gap that you feel like it needs to get filled with a guy who’s had more playing experience, and that’s the best thing for the team to bring in for the competition of the group, we’ll do it."

Getting up to speed in recruiting

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell looks on from the field during practice at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Campbell has gone through a lot already with the 2027 recruiting class. There have been some big hits and some misses. After ranking as the Big Ten's No. 1 class at one point, Penn State ranks 20th nationally and seventh in the conference, according to the 247Sports Composite.

Campbell said that he and his staff continue to "play catch-up" in their recruiting outreach, particularly with the high schools within a six- to eight-hour radius of Penn State. He wants that to remain a core region of the program's recruiting strategy, which requires more time for the staff to get on the road and meet players and coaches.

"We’re still playing catch-up a little bit with that in the '27 class of not having that sophomore, junior, senior year of relationships," Campbell said. "But I feel like we’ve made really great headway and we’re really excited about what that looks like. And I think we’re really excited about what we’ve been able to do as we start the '28 recruiting class."

Penn State's NIL funding shaped the 2027 recruiting class, and Campbell has said that he doesn't want players to come to Penn State for money alone. He repeated that in the interview.

"You're going to hear me talk a lot about this, and I’m not wavering from this," Campbell said. "[We want] great character young men, young men who have a great passion for the game of football, which is harder to find today. It’s hard to find guys who love football.

"Do you love it enough when it’s not going well? Do you love it enough when you get injured and you lose your spot and have to fight back? … Do you love football enough to take the constructive criticism and get yourself better? Do you love it then? How many guys are going to raise their hand in today’s world?"

Check out Campbell's full interview on the Goon & Ironhead Show.

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