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The spring transfer portal officially opened up this week in college football and is a little different than the winter portal that opens up after the season ends, as Penn State Football is already finding out.
When players enter the winter portal, they can transfer wherever they want with no limitations. Still, in the spring portal, there are rules that the conference can put in place to prohibit a player from transferring from one school to another in the conference, and the SEC is one of the conferences that go by this rule.
If you’re an SEC player and want to transfer to another SEC team in the spring portal, you can’t without sitting out a season.
Penn State is very lucky that the Big Ten doesn’t have this transfer rule, and, fortunately, the SEC has this rule because it can be in the running for players it probably wouldn’t have been if SEC players had been allowed to transfer to other SEC schools.
The Nittany Lions need help at the wide receiver position. Recently, wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith already announced that he is entering the spring transfer portal.
Lambert-Smith, a key playmaker for the team, has an impressive resume of 1,721 career receiving yards and 11 touchdowns in his four-year career in Happy Valley.
But, just as Lambert-Smith is departing, Penn State Football should look to add talent from the transfer portal in the coming weeks.
3 Top Penn State Football Transfer Portal Targets
Raymond Cottrell, WR, Kentucky
One of the players who entered the transfer portal this week is Kentucky wide receiver Raymond Cottrell.
The Freshman wide receiver started his career at Texas A&M last season, recording only one reception for 13 yards and a score, but he has a lot of upside and was a four-star recruit in the class of 2023.
Cottrell entered the portal after the season and found himself heading to Kentucky, but his stay wasn’t extended because he was back in the portal three months later.
Penn State should pursue Cottrell because he is from an SEC school, so not many teams can pursue him. Being so young, he has a lot of upside and could bring some skill to a wide receiver room that needs it.
Justus Ross-Simmons, WR, Colorado State
Another wide receiver the Nittany Lions could target is Colorado State’s Justus Ross-Simmons.
Ross-Simmons had 45 catches for 724 receiving yards and three scores in 2023, bringing valuable experience to the Rams’ receiver room.
Ross-Simmons stands at 6-foot-3 inches and could be that big body receiver Penn State has been looking for and could be a legit down-the-field threat.
According to Pete Nakos from On3.com, one of Penn State’s rivals, Michigan State, has been in contact with the receiver, so if Penn State wants him, go out and try to get him now because they could be playing him in the Big Ten.
Elijah Herring, LB, Tennessee
Of course, the Nittany Lions need a wide receiver, but they could target a fun position. You can never have enough playmakers on the defensive side of the ball, and they could give Tennessee linebacker Elijah Herring a look at who entered the portal on Monday.
Herring led the Volunteers in tackles last season and started 11 games for a team with very high exceptions but fell short of them.
You can never have enough linebackers in the Big Ten, where teams love to run the ball. One team on Penn State’s schedule who is going to run the ball a lot is Ohio State, with its running back duo of TreVeyon Henderson and Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins.
Penn State saw Michigan run the ball all over them last season, and Herring could come in and make sure teams with great running backs don’t do it again this season.
It will be interesting to see who Penn State adds during the spring portal, and this is the last chance to add players before the season starts.
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