What Penn State's Matt Campbell Said at His Post-Practice Press Conference

The Nittany Lions' coach discussed his team's progress during spring drills.

Penn State Nittany Lions football coach Matt Campbell meets the media in the Lasch Football Building. | Mark Wogenrich | Penn State On SI

Penn State passed the midway point of spring football practice Thursday, finishing session No. 8 on the road to the Blue-White event April 25 at Beaver Stadium. Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell said the team took a "step in the right direction" at practice, which remains a learning-based operation.

After practice, Campbell met with the media in the team meeting room, where he discussed what he has learned so far this spring, the return of wide receivers Chase Sowell and Brett Eskildsen and what's happening at linebacker. Here's a recap of Campbell's press conference.

On Penn State's general progress this spring

Penn State coach Matt Campbell said that the team “took a step in the right direction” at practice today. pic.twitter.com/k52HB6plgi

— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) April 9, 2026

I would say for me, still so much of this is about how we do things. If you said, what your ultimate goal of spring practice is, it's how do we practice? What's it look like to show up every day with great consistency? We're asking a lot of our guys in this five-week block of spring practice. We really are, from continuing to gain strength in the weight room, to putting in two brand-new systems on the offensive and defensive side of the football. And, some guys are evolving with coach (Justin Lustig) on special teams.

There's a lot of growth process, so just showing up isn't good enough. How do you study every day, how do you prepare, how do you take care of your body? All those things have really been our emphasis. We talked about it yesterday. Can we, individually and collectively, create momentum for ourselves leaving spring practice? And what does that look like, and what does that feel like?

I think it's the consistency of how we go about our process. There's obviously great room to grow, and we're all going through change together. So I think the reality is, can we create that momentum for ourselves leaving spring practice? I thought today at least is a step in the right direction.

On the offseason recovery of receivers Chase Sowell and Brett Eskildsen

Iowa State Cyclones' wide receiver Brett Eskildsen (9) celebrates with offensive line coach Ryan Clanton after scoring a touchdown against Kansas. | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Chase and Brett are kind of like [quarterback] Rocco (Becht). Those guys are probably a week or two ahead of where we thought they would be. They're still not live in terms of live action, but it's huge for them to start to get reps together and start to really get back involved.

In the second half of spring ball, hopefully we can continue to get them into more and more of the rhythm, consistency, all those things it takes to be a good offense. We're gonna need those guys to get quality reps the rest of the way.

On the spring growth of tight end Ben Brahmer

Penn State Nittany Lions tight end Benjamin Brahmer (18) runs a drill while Cooper Alexander (80) watches. | Mark Wogenrich | Penn State On SI

Ben has had a really good spring. Honestly, this is the first [healthy] offseason that Ben has truly had during his collegiate career, and I think you see it. He's almost 258 [pounds] right now in terms of body weight. He's as strong and physical as he's been.

So far, he's had a tremendous spring. As a mover, as a point-of-attack football player, some areas where we were really trying to hone in on, I think he's made great strides.

On building upon Penn State's recent history at tight end

Penn State Nittany Lions tight end Andrew Rappleyea (87) scores on a touchdown reception during the second half of the 2025 Pinstripe Bowl against the Clemson Tigers at Yankee Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

I hope it's a great match. There's just been tremendous tight end play through the history of this school. You look at what [Iowa State transfer] Gabe Burkle has stood for, and what he is as a football player, obviously what Ben has done the last two years, and then Rapp [Andrew Rappleyea]. And then you talk about what Finn [Furmanek] has done in a short amount of time in his career. He's a good football player.

[Iowa State transfer] Cooper Alexander, we've got really huge expectations for what he's got the ability to be. And then with Brian Kortovich, that's a really good room. When you have great tight ends, you're usually great not only offensively, but you also have the ability to be great on special teams, because those roles, those body types, they can do a lot of things for you to be successful.

We'll work really hard to continue that lineage of success here. That's something that we believe in, all the way back to our days at Toledo. We've been fortunate to have great tight ends in our offense. And obviously with the history of this place, you hope any great tight end would want to be a part of what we have going on here.

On Penn State's situation at offensive tackle

Penn State Nittany Lions offensive linesman Malachi Goodman (78) during a warmup prior to the game against the Villanova Wildcats at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

I don't know if I could be any more impressed with what I've seen from that group. Malachi Goodman is 330 [pounds] and looks like he's 250. He's a smooth athlete, and ... watching his evolution in the weight room, he may be a redshirt freshman, but I feel like his maturity of physical ability is way beyond that.

Owen Aliciene is a guy that can play across the board at a lot of different positions. But his athleticism has certainly been really impressive in terms of watching his ability. Garrett Sexton has been really impressive: smart, intelligent, tough. We recruited Garrett [at Iowa State]. He was one of the first guys I saw in the locker room when we got here, and it was great to see him, because I knew the human. He was a great basketball player in high school, played at a great high school football program in Wisconsin, and he's built from the right stuff.

[Iowa State transfer] Kuol Kuol is a young man that we think is really talented. He's put on 20 pounds since he's been here, so I think there's just another physical evolution for Kuol. We got him at 245 at Iowa State. He's 305 right now. So it's been really fun to watch where he's evolved to. So there are a lot of guys at that tackle position that we're really excited about.

On how the linebackers have performed this spring

Penn State Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell (center) flanked by linebackers Alex Tatsch (25) and Tony Rojas (13) at practice at Holuba Hall. | Mark Wogenrich | Penn State On SI

We've been fortunate because those three linebackers that came with us from Iowa State are guys that have played a ton. Kooper Ebel has started, was an all-conference player last year, and he's an elite communicator. He's a guy that rose to the top at Iowa State because of his ability to really understand defensive football. He came from a high school where he was a single-wing quarterback and is a guy that's really flourished over his time with us.

Cael Brezina has played a lot of great football. He started as a true freshman in 2024 at Iowa State, I think had 12 solo tackles against Iowa and really got off to a great start. Then he had some injuries and had to fight back through adversity, and did a great job at the end of last year for us. And then Caleb Bacon has been a great player for us as well. You throw in Cam [Smith], who is a young guy that's really flashed. He's athletic, he can run. So we're super excited about that group.

And you're not even talking about my admiration for Alex Tatsch from what I've seen on the video and how I've watched him work. And to have a guy like Tony Rojas, who has played great football here and who can kind of be an anchor to everybody and the glue a little bit of what the preparation looks like, what we're preparing for and toward. It's been great to have that room with some some great maturity in there.

Penn State hosted a group of lettermen this past weekend as part of Matt Campbell’s outreach to the program’s history.

“It’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than any of us.”

🎥 Penn State Athletics pic.twitter.com/sODuJ0OZu7

— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) March 31, 2026

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