James Franklin: ‘No-brainer’ decision to bring safety King Mack back to Penn State

This time last spring, King Mack was on his way out the door, leaving Happy Valley after one season with the Penn State football program. Less than 12 months later, the junior safety is back and looking to reclaim his ascendant spot within the Nittany Lions secondary.

With the current transactional nature of the transfer portal, it’s rare to see a player boomerang to their original program and be welcomed back with open arms. However, for Penn State and Mack, the situation just made sense.

“He’d been talking to the guys on our team all year long. Still close with those guys,” James Franklin said of the situation this week. “I think he saw a bunch of the guys that he came in with, with the year two, take a big step, which he would have been a part of that if he was here.

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“And I think, kind of like I talked about before about not knowing what you’re going to get out of the portal as coaches, in terms of the players you’re bringing in, or players going to other programs that don’t know the culture and what it’s going to be like. So for King, I think very early on, it was a no-brainer for us because I think he would have played a significant amount for us last year. And I think for King, why take unnecessary risk? He knows us. We know him. So it didn’t take very long. Once he entered the portal, I had a conversation with him. He was talking to our guys. Dex [Anthony Poindexter] got on the phone with him. We were able to kind of get it done pretty quickly.”

Mack appeared destined for a significant role on the 2024 Penn State football team after appearing in all 13 games as a true freshman. However, the former top 100 recruit used last year’s spring portal to test the open waters, ending up at Alabama. He played in all 13 games for the Crimson Tide last fall before re-entering the portal and returning to the Nittany Lions in January.

Spring portal already impacting the Penn State defense

Wednesday’s spring portal opening saw the quick exit of several Nittany Lions on the defensive side of the ball. The most significant loss for Penn State was redshirt sophomore linebacker Ta’Mere Robinson, who was competing for a more prominent role in 2025. Overall, the program lost three defenders on Wednesday.

Outgoing transfers

• JB Nelson, OL – Entered the transfer portal on April 14.
• Jon Mitchell, CB – Entered the transfer portal on April 16.
• Ta’Mere Robinson, LB – Entered the transfer portal on April 16.
• Beckham Dee, LB – Entered the transfer portal on April 16.

With 116 players on the roster and the NCAA’s new 105-man roster limitation fast approaching, Penn State football will likely see more turnover in the coming week.

“Once again, it’s really kind of a ‘no surprises’ discussion. What I mean by that [is], if a player has any issues or concerns, we want them to come in and talk to us,” Franklin said. “We’ve talked already to the team about how we’re handling the 105. That was addressed before the first window. That was addressed before this window. So everybody’s on the same page.”

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