Penn State loses transfer portal commitment from receiver Devin Carter
Penn State picked up its first transfer portal commitment of 2023 on Jan. 2 when former North Carolina State receiver Devin Carter picked the Lions shortly after they beat Utah 35-21 in the Rose Bowl. However, the Clayton, N.C., native has backed away from his pledge to join head coach James Franklin’s program now that classes are underway in State College for the spring semester.
Carter did not just move on from the Lions on Wednesday night, however. He also committed to West Virginia.
It’s unclear why Carter, who stands 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, changed his mind after taking an official visit to campus last weekend. However, it does leave Penn State down a new member of the roster at a key position ahead of the 2023 season.
Carter has one season of eligibility remaining. He caught 25 passes for 406 yards and two touchdowns for the Wolfpack in 2022. Overall in college, he has hauled in 118 passes for 1,906 yards and 10 touchdowns. He had numerous offers before picking the Lions, and then again before switching to the Mountaineers.
Penn State has already welcomed three portal entries to town: Former Florida Atlantic punter Riley Thompson is on scholarship, as is one-time North Carolina corner Storm Duck. Two-time All-Ivy League kicker Alex Felkins, then, is walking on to the Penn State program after starting his college career at Columbia.
Penn State will continue searching for portal receivers
It has been clear since December that, with Mitchell Tinsley and Parker Washington leaving for the NFL, Penn State wants to add another receiver before next season, and preferably two. Most of their top targets are off the board in the portal. But, former Bowling Green receiver Tyrone Broden visited campus last weekend and is uncommitted. However, he was to decide Wednesday but has since delayed that to a to-be-determined date.
“We plan on taking two,” receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield said in December. “We took essentially five freshmen receivers last year. You have Parker going to the Draft. You have Mitch that we’re losing. So, we got a lot of young guys. We signed one in this class intentionally. We could have had multiple guys committed that are commited to some other schools right now, we could have had them committed in the summer, [but] we just didn’t think that they were right for us.
“So we feel like our best way to satisfy what our need is, which is probably a little bit of some older guys, is possibly going to the transfer portal and seeing who could help us win.”
