Ex-Penn State lineman to visit Big Ten, ACC foes in transfer portal

JB Nelson was the first member of the Penn State football roster to hit the transfer portal. A week after leaving the program, the former Nittany Lions offensive lineman is already drawing significant interest from several power conference schools.

First reported by Matt Zenitz of 247Sports, Nelson is expected to make portal visits to several ACC programs, including Georgia Tech, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech. He is also expected to visit nearby Big Ten rival Maryland.

Ex-Penn State offensive lineman JB Nelson is expected to visit Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Maryland and Syracuse, a source tells @CBSSports/@247Sports.

The 6-5, 325-pound Nelson played in 27 games at Penn State the last two years and made eight starts.https://t.co/10Sz3YwNKg pic.twitter.com/wCwtEzjPlm

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) April 17, 2025

Nelson was the No. 3 JUCO prospect in the country when he transferred from Lackawanna Community College to Penn State prior to the 2022 season. He is now ranked No. 29 among interior offensive linemen in 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings.

“There’s a lot of competition there. There’s a lot of competition at those positions,” James Franklin said of the Nittany Lions’ offensive guards, where Nelson was battling with Cooper Cousins for a starting role. “Traut [offensive line coach Phil Trautwein] has done a really good job of recruiting and developing guys, so we have depth, which creates some of that [turnover] as well. Right? It’s all of that.”

As of Thursday evening, Penn State football has seen four players enter the transfer portal.

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