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Why going to a college football playoff with 8 teams is inevitable
SportsPulse: The conversation comes up every year, but it can finally happen. After seven years of a college football playoff with four teams, Dan Wolken believes that there is enough momentum that, next year, we can watch a playoff with eight teams.
SportsPulse, USA TODAY
Penn State strengthened its ever-changing football squad again through the NCAA transfer portal.
This time, a defensive back from the University of South Carolina will join.
Although the Nittany Lions have not been a significant player in the transfer market in recent years, coach James Franklin and his team have admitted how this must change in response to the increasingly lost NCAA rules regarding player change programs.
Two Lions have already reported that they are trying to transfer to the 2021 season – defensive tackles Antonio Shelton and Judge Culpepper.
However, two others have announced that they will come to Penn State.
New Jersey running back John Lovett, who the Lions recruited after high school, announced last week that he plans to leave Baylor to play his final season with the Lions.
On Monday, South Carolina cornerback Johnny Dixon said he was also at State College.
Dixon (6 feet, 185 pounds) is originally from Chamberlain High in the Tampa, Florida area. The Lions allegedly recruited him from high school along with former Penn State defender Jordan Miner.
Dixon was a starter for Gamecocks last fall as a second year and produced 28 tackles, five pass break-ups and a fumble recovery. He decided to move after the team fired coach Will Muschamp.
And it is almost certain that it will not be Penn State’s last choice this winter – part of a growing version of the free college football agency under the NCAA that changes transfer rules in response to the pandemic COVID-19.
Players can not only transfer now at will, but must also be qualified immediately at their new school, regardless of the reason for the change.
Penn State has lost several complementary and reserve players through transfers in recent years, but has been very selective in adding them. Most notable may be Virginia Tech’s kicker / punter Jordan Stout.
But Franklin and his team have made it clear in recent weeks that their approach is likely to change with the scenario.
“I think we all realized that in the past for us at Penn State, transfers were not a big part of our overall recruiting process. That will change,” said Andy Frank, director of personnel for players at Penn State.
Franklin pointed out that his team will be especially looking to add defensive ends and defensive backs through transfers, because that “is only part of 2020 and where football is and where football is going”.
Penn State can certainly use immediate help in the cornerback, where it could lose Tariq Castro-Fields, often injured, to the NFL Draft. At the end of the season, the Lions had only three healthy players in position, at best.
In addition, Dixon will retain his second-year qualification in 2021 due to the rules of COVID-19.
The team may also lack experience on the defensive line with the expected losses from Jayson Oweh and Shaka Toney to the NFL and Culpepper and Shelton for transfers.
Even the back room, which was so full last summer, seems uncertain to move on. Because of injuries, Lions have been reduced to two real freshmen for most of the nine-game season.