Transfer portal defensive tackle claims Penn State offer
Penn State football has so far focused most of its transfer portal attention, in terms of who it has offered, on players who it would like to join its offense. However, a new target has hit the radar on defense.
Davon Sears claimed an offer from the Lions on Tuesday. Formerly at Texas State, he entered the portal Dec. 17. In 2022, the Center Line, Mich., native made 15 tackles (3.5 for loss) and also totaled a sack over 12 games.
“You come out of spring and I was really, really pleased with where Davon Sears was,” Texas State defensive coordinator Zac Spavital told the San Marcos Daily Record before the season. “He’s a guy that redshirted – probably our most talented guy from just a numbers, athletic, size, speed standpoint – (and) didn’t have much experience at the two position. So (we’re) excited about him, he’s really turned it up (since) the spring.”
Spears stands 6-foot-2, 290 pounds and was a first-team all-region pick at Ellsworth Community College before arriving at Texas State. He has multiple years of eligibility remaining.
Spears has also reported offers from Cincinnati, Kansas State, Miami, Oklahoma, Hawaii, USC, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
Penn State has many wants in the transfer portal
Penn State coach James Franklin made clear that his team had needs to fill still after signing 22 high schools players in the Class of 2022. Defensive tackle is one of them.
“I’d like to see us get another offensive lineman and then wide receiver,” Franklin said. “That’s a position where I could see us signing a couple more guys at that position just to make sure that we have the competition at that position on a similar scale that we do at tight end and running back. I think that’s going to be important for us moving forward. Offensive tackles that are still out there, wide receivers that are still out there, we’ll be in pursuit.
“On the defensive side of the ball, we’d like to get a defensive tackle, possibly another defensive end just from a numbers perspective. Again, depending on how this thing plays out in the back end as defensive back, we could be in the need for one or two more defensive backs. We’ll see how this whole thing plays out. But those would be probably needs that I would say that are still out there that we’d like to try to address either through the second signing day with high school prospects or some transfer portal prospects.”
