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Penn State posts highlights from camp practice No. 1; see Trebor Pena, Amare Campbell, and more in action

Greg Pickelby: Greg Pickel07/31/25GregPickel
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New Penn State linebacker Amare Campbell. (Screenshot courtesy of Penn State Football via Twitter.)

Preseason camp is underway at Penn State. The Nittany Lions returned to the practice field for the first time since April 26 and the Blue-White game on Wednesday. Head coach James Franklin, who starts his 12th season in State College, had his team at Beaver Stadium on that spring day, of course. On this particular summer afternoon, the Lions worked on the outdoor practice fields between the Lasch Building and Holuba Hall.

On Thursday, the program posted a 30-second social media highlight reel of the team in action. Clips include fans’ first chance to see transfers Trebor Pena, a receiver from Syracuse, and Amare Campbell, a transfer from North Carolina, working in Penn State gear. Both joined the program following their respective teams’ spring practices. They are among a group of eight players who are on the Lions’ roster this year via the transfer portal.

“We’re not a big portal team,” Franklin said at Big Ten Media Days. “We’ll go out and make some moves and make some adjustments to fill maybe a gap that we have in our program, very similar to maybe programs in the past used to use junior colleges or developmental program. We embrace that. But we will go out and make moves in the portal where we need to. We’ve got eight young men that we’re excited about the impact they’re going to be able to make for us this year.”

You can watch the highlight clip below. Can’t see the Twitter embed? Click here to see it.

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Every college football team has 25 practices to use before its first game. Penn State, then, has 24 to go over the next 30 days before it opens the 2025 season against Nevada on Aug. 30 at Beaver Stadium. Expectations are sky high for the Lions, who some view as the nation’s top team in the preseason, while everyone has them in their top five. Those rankings are not of importance to the program, though, as practices continue.

“Let’s also be honest,” Franklin said last week. “It’s a great conversation, but who really cares about preseason rankings? They mean nothing. It’s a good argument to have and everybody has fun with it, but the only rankings that matter are the ones that happen at the end of the season, and that’s what we’re concerned about. The only way we’ll do that is by handling our business today.”