Penn State secured a 10-win regular season; now, an important month for the program's future starts

Penn State outperformed many people’s expectations for it during the 2022 regular season. The Nittany Lions won 10 games, earned victories in four consecutive contests in November, and will be on the cusp of, if not inside, the College Football Playoff top-10 when the final rankings are revealed.

To many, it might seem like the days between the end of the regular season and the postseason date are meaningless. However, they may be the most transformative 30 or so 24-hour periods that the Penn State program will have all year.

Much will be happening. A lot of it will be behind the scenes. 

Penn State roster changes will come into focus

Members of the current roster will meet with head coach James Franklin and their position coaches to recap the year that was before starting bowl game practices. They will get some deserved time off, too, of course, while finishing their academic coursework. Defensive end Nick Tarburton plans to spend some of that downtime hunting in the woods during rifle season in Pennsylvania. Defensive tackle PJ Mustipher, then, is looking forward to simply relaxing. Each player will recover and rejuvenate in his own way. 

Some will have to make decisions about playing in the bowl game or leaving school early for the NFL Draft. Others will need to ponder whether or not they want to enter the transfer portal, which opens Dec. 5. The Penn State coaching staff will also be searching it for possible additions that could help the team next season. An offseason of change is on the horizon, with quarterback Sean Clifford, receiver Mitchell Tinsley, Mustipher, and safety Ji’Ayir Brown all forced to move on. Corner Joey Porter Jr., is likely to leave for the NFL. Tarburton and center Juice Scruggs may not be back. So, Penn State must be diligent in seeing if it can pick up a player or two or more from elsewhere that could help solve the challenges those departures create. 

A change to the recruiting travel schedule

One significant difference this offseason compared to the ones before it, however, is a new dead period that ran from Nov. 28 through Dec. 1. It meant that the coaches couldn’t immediately hit the road to recruit following the regular season finale. The NCAA put that in place to help ease concerns that staff members would not have time to meet with players who might consider entering the portal. So, that time was forced on them before a stretch where recruiting travel is allowed from Dec. 2-17. Head coach James Franklin and his 10 on-field assistants will be traveling the country to lock up their current Class of 2023 verbal commitments while also possibly looking for new ones via uncommitted prospects or flips from other schools. There is work to do related to the Classes of 2024, 2025, and beyond, as well.

“We’ll get a little bit time off here over the next couple of days,” head coach James Franklin said. “[Nov. 27] is the first Sunday we’ll have off and, then there’s a new, kind of, transfer portal period. Where, we normally would go on the road recruiting. [But now], we’ll be in the office for three or four days meeting with all the players and making sure we’re all on the same page. Obviously, we’ll find out what bowl we’re going to. And, we’ll get started on practices before we necessarily know who we’re playing. And then, we’ll get into bowl prep.” 

A transformative stretch is coming for the Lions

The Penn State roster will change over the next 30 days. It will also develop, as the bowl practices and games are crucial from a player growth perspective, especially for younger players who might go from the developmental squad to the first- or second-team due to bowl game opt-outs. 

All told, then, between the current team and recruiting, there will be limited time to exhale. But, once everyone catches their breath from a grueling 12-game regular season, a new grind quickly starts that will help lay the foundation for the 2023 Penn State football program and beyond. 

“I’m really proud,” Franklin said. “You think about where this team started, in terms of how people talked about us in preseason, to where we finished, I think inside the top 10 at the end of the regular season and then we still have one game left to play. 

“We’re looking forward to seeing where we’ll end up.”