James Franklin addresses change in linebacker room, Amare Campbell addition

The reality for every team in college football is that there is going to be some amount of turnover on rosters. At Penn State, one positional change that head coach James Franklin is going to need to manage is at the linebacker position.

The Nittany Lions lost Ta’Mere Robinson to the Transfer Portal, as he moved on to USC. In a bid to replace him, Franklin hit the portal and brought in Amare Campbell from North Carolina. Now, he’s addressed that turnover in the linebacker room.

“I think the first thing is like, I hated to lose the player [Robinson] we lost,” James Franklin said. “Like I think you guys know, we are committed to our current roster and the retention of our current roster. That is priority number one for us. We know those guys the best, we know their families the best.”

Last season, Robinson played in 14 games for Penn State. However, he struggled to get consistent playing time early in his college career, likely due to a knee injury he suffered back in high school that limited him once he got to Happy Valley. Campbell, meanwhile, played 13 games at North Carolina with 76 tackles and 11 tackles for a loss with 6.5 sacks.

“One of the challenges that I realized is, these guys that come in with injuries, it’s hard. Because it throws off the timeline in their head, and frustration can set in. Probably, in some way, unrealistically, right? You’re already behind a year coming back off injuries and things like that. So, I think the first thing is that. We’re investing in our roster, and we hate to lose guys,” Franklin said. “But once that happens, then you’ve got to move on and then you got to find the next best option for Penn State.”

One of the big appeals in Amare Campbell for James Franklin was his proven productivity at the college level. That’s become a key in how Penn State recruits from the Transfer Portal. Along with recommendations from some of his former coaches at North Carolina, that made him an ideal player for the Nittany Lions.

“And again, you’re talking about production. We’re out of the business; we’ve tried a few times where you get a guy who was maybe highly regarded but hasn’t proven it yet at the college level. I’m kind of out of that business. I think at the end of the day, if you’re going to go into the transfer portal, you need to be going to Transfer Portal for production, not projection. High school is always going to be a little bit of projection. So, when we were able to see his production, watch the film, talk to the family,” Franklin said.

“And then, again, people that I trust pounded the table for him. Tony Rojas, you guys saw it on social media, was doing it. Tony felt strongly about him being a really good fit for us. Mack Brown, who’s a good friend, felt like he’d be a good fit for us once, once he went into the portal. Geoff Collins. Guys that we trust that vouched for him.”

Defense has consistently been a strength for Penn State in recent seasons. For a Nittany Lions team that has aspirations of making it back to the College Football Playoff, making sure the linebacker room is at full strength is going to be a priority ahead of the season.

“So, all those things kind of helped and, so far so good. Sometimes it’s hard to kind of evaluate a linebacker without pads on. It’s a little bit maybe easier to evaluate a wide receiver or something like that. So, we’ll see,” Franklin said. “But based on first impressions, it’s been good.”