Why Penn State's Matt Campbell Made Trace McSorley, Dan Connor Staff Priorities

Campbell called Penn State's history its "superpower," which McSorley and Connor represent.

Former Penn State star quarterback Trace McSorley answers a question during a Happy Valley United event at Medlar Field in 2024. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

STATE COLLEGE | Penn State football has a “superpower” that head coach Matt Campbell was quick to notice.

“Our greatest gift is those that came before us,” Campbell said at his introductory press conference in December.

Campbell built his coaching staff around the familiarity of those he worked with at Iowa State, along with three key pieces of Nittany Lion history. Campbell made former interim head coach Terry Smith a priority of his staff plan, retaining Smith as the team’s assistant head coach and cornerbacks coach. 

Campbell also retained two of the most popular players in Penn State’s recent history: assistant linebackers coach Dan Connor and assistant quarterbacks coach Trace McSorley. Retaining both coaches was important to Campbell as he sets sail on his first season at Penn State.

“For me to be able to have that wisdom, to have that experience, to have living proof of what the power of Penn State excellence looks like on our staff, it’s been really fortunate to have,” Campbell said. 

RELATED: Five questions for Penn State coach Matt Campbell

‘LBU’ remains in the hands of Dan Connor

Penn State Nittany Lions linebacker Dan Connor lines up against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during a game at Beaver Stadium. | James Lang-Imagn Images

Dan Connor is one of the great linebackers in Penn State football history. A two-time All-American, Connor won the Chuck Bednarik Award in 2007 as the nation’s top defensive player. He remains the school’s all-time leading tackler with 419 stops. 

Penn State has a long tradition of developing strong linebackers and more recently, the tradition of the “Stix,” with the No. 11 jersey. LaVar Arrington first wore the jersey number that his son now wears, after NaVorro Bowman, Micah Parsons and Abdul Carter made their way through the program.

Connor played in the NFL for three seasons before becoming a coach. In 2022, he returned to Penn State as a defensive analyst and became the linebackers coach in 2025. He will coach the position with Tyson Veidt, who was Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator the past two seasons.  

“It took two seconds to say, this human gets it,” Campbell said about the first time he met Connor. “He is Penn State football, what he stands for, what he talks about, excellence looking like, what's gone well, what are some of the areas that need to move forward.

“I think Dan was so articulate in where this program is, why he loves Penn State football, what it did for him and honestly, how he envisions this program moving forward. It was such a great match.”

Connor will work under D’Anton Lynn, another letterman who is returning to Penn State after spending two years at USC. They didn’t play together at Penn State but learned the Nittany Lions’ core values growing up through the program.

“I just think being a former player here, who played at the level he played, he’s kind of the standard of what an inside linebacker at Penn State is,” Lynn said of Connor. “So I think him just being around, not just the linebackers but being around the defense and the entire team, this helps remind the guys of what Penn State’s about.”

Coaching the next Penn State QBs

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Trace McSorley (9) reacts after scoring his second touchdown during the first quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Rocco Becht followed his head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach to Penn State, where he’ll also get coached by a former Nittany Lion. Trace McSorley will continue as the program’s assistant quarterbacks coach, working with Jake Waters as Becht becomes Penn State’s starting quarterback.

“I think Trace is just starting [to learn] how special his career has got the ability to be,” Campbell said. “You talk about one of the winningest quarterbacks [in Penn State history]. And in my mind, I kept thinking about him and Rocco have very similar traits of the human being and what they're about and the impact that he could have in a positive way on Rocco.”

McSorley, a three-year starter who led Penn State to the 2016 Big Ten title, still holds several program records and is one of the most popular players to wear a Nittany Lions’ jersey. McSorley bounced around in the NFL for several years before returning to Penn State last season, working under James Franklin and Danny O’Brien. But McSorley, a Virginia native, didn’t follow them to Virginia Tech as former Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer did. 

Bringing together past and present

Penn State’s Matt Campbell is meeting the media for the first time since being introduced in December.

Here, he discusses Penn State’s football history and connecting with past players and coaches. pic.twitter.com/WbdWNPsmP3

— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) February 4, 2026

When Campbell walked into the Beaver Stadium media room for the first time in December, he rattled off names of the past like Jack Ham, Todd Blackledge and Matt Millen — Penn State legends who resonate strongly with the everlasting pulse of the fan base. Campbell arrived in State College ready to embrace Penn State’s past.

“It’s still one of the absolute joys that you have walking in that facility every day and you see the names that have played and coached and the tradition that has come before us,” Campbell said last week. “I’ve really tried to work hard and will continue to work really hard at unifying and aligning our history, our former players back involved in our football program, because I think it’s so critical.

It’s what makes Penn State football really special. It makes it an honor to represent every day. I know that I need to continue to build that into our football team. We're going to need everybody, and certainly our past coaches, our past players that want to come be a part of this, and we're excited about that."

In his first weeks at Penn State, Campbell met with each new coach individually, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the program while also allowing each coach’s input on where they see it in the future. As Smith prepared the team for the Pinstripe Bowl, the developing coaching staff watched countless hours of film, learning the locker room and preparing for a busy transfer portal window.

Penn State signed 40 players from the portal, including 24 former Iowa State Cyclones. Campbell’s task now is to unify the program. 

“Culture is not words, it’s how you live,” Campbell said. “It’s how you act, it’s how you carry yourself. We get to begin to build those foundational blocks within our program, and we’re excited about that.”

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