Penn State is closing in on hiring D’Anton Lynn as its defensive coordinator, according to several reports on Monday.
Lynn, a former Penn State letterman, has spent the last two seasons leading Southern Cal’s defense. His hiring will make him the fourth defensive coordinator at Penn State in as many years.
Jim Knowles, the Philadelphia native who served as the program’s defensive coordinator in 2025, was not retained on new coach Matt Campbell’s staff and left to take the same position at Tennessee. Jon Heacock, who was the defensive coordinator in every season Campbell served as head coach at Iowa State, was expected to follow the new Penn State coach to Happy Valley, but he opted to retire last week.
The 36-year-old Lynn also spent a year as UCLA’s defensive coordinator and spent time as an assistant in the NFL for the Chargers, Texans, Bills, and Ravens.
This season, USC’s defense ranked 45th nationally in passing yards allowed per game (203.3), 48th in total defense (348.8 yards), and 49th in points allowed (22.4).
Lynn played defensive back at Penn State from 2008-11 and finished with 162 tackles (seven for losses), four interceptions, and a fumble recovery in 47 career games.
That’s what Temple men’s basketball coach Adam Fisher said he wanted his team’s identity to be when he spoke during media day on Oct. 27.
Those two facets of the game proved to be Temple’s Achilles’ heel last season, but with 11 new players, Fisher was out to avoid what prompted a collapse in the second half of last season.
With nonconference play finished and Temple (8-5) opening American Conference play at Charlotte on Tuesday, the Owls seemingly have accomplished what Fisher wanted. New faces have stepped up and their defense has improved.
Temple takes down Princeton 65-61, closing the non-conference slate on a four-game winning streak.
The Owls enter American Conference play with a 6-1 record in North Philadelphia.
“We know this is a challenging league. There [are] great coaches and there [are] fantastic players,” Fisher said. “There’s a reason why people pick from our league at the end of the year. We’ll probably have the lowest retention, because people see this league and they pull from it. So we know it’s a great challenge.”
Temple’s offense has seen an influx of depth that was evident during its current four-game winning streak. The Owls set a program record of 78.8 points per game last season and that has continued in 2025-26. They are averaging 77.8 points, the fifth-highest mark in the American.
Last season, the offense went through guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. and forward Steve Settle. While Zion Stanford was a viable third option, there was still a drastic drop-off and the offense was stuck.
Temple guard Aiden Tobiason is averaging 15.1 points a game.
This season, Temple’s best players have been able to coexist when the ball isn’t in their hands. Derrian Ford (17.8 points per game) and Aiden Tobiason (15.1) lead the team in scoring, becoming a one-two punch in the backcourt. Point guard Jordan Mason averages 11.2 points and 4.7 assists. Guard Gavin Griffiths has seen a career resurgence on North Broad Street, averaging 10 points. He leads the team with 27 three-pointers.
“We’ve got four guys that can space the floor and four guys that can shoot, dribble, and pass,” Griffiths said. “So it’s really fun to play when you have a team like that.”
Griffiths scores his points in bunches, often pulling the Owls out of a rut. He did so by knocking down three straight threes against Boston College on Nov. 15. On Dec. 14 against St. Francis (Pa.), 14 of his 17 points came in the first half to put the game out of reach.
Mason spearheads the offense, one of the reasons the Owls average just 9.8 turnovers, the fewest in the conference. He has added scoring to his prowess, being someone who steps up when Ford or Tobiason can’t get shots to fall. His presence gives the Owls offense something that it hasn’t had in Fisher’s tenure.
“He’s fantastic. I think he just makes the right reads,” Fisher said. “But we just have trust in him. … I think when your players know we have that belief in you, our guys know to always have their eyes on him.”
Temple’s defense looked like it was revamped after a string of good performances to start the season. That was quickly erased when the defense was exposed in a November tournament in Florida, when the Owls lost, 91-76, to UC San Diego and 90-75 to Rhode Island.
However, the last four opportunities have been different, and the Owls defense comes into conference play with momentum against a 6-7 Charlotte team that scores 72.1 points per game.
“Since we got back from Florida, I think we’ve guarded much better,” Fisher said. “I think that’s been a huge point of emphasis for us, defending and rebounding.”
Questions remain
After Tuesday’s matchup against the 49ers (7 p.m., ESPN+), Temple will face two more teams with losing records before a road game against reigning American champion Memphis on Jan. 14.
The Owls offense has been able to put up points, but many of them come in bunches as they go stretches of time without scoring, often looking lost. They typically resort to hero ball and isolation, with one player trying to end the drought himself.
Temple has taken a more collective approach to the season rather than building around top talent.
The abundance of Owls guards has also been an issue.
Masiah Gilyard was brought in for his defense and rebounding skills. Cam Wallace has shown he can be a future cornerstone, but he is still developing as a freshman. Former Alabama State star CJ Hines was brought in with the expectation to bring NCAA Tournament experience and be a three-point threat, but he hasn’t played yet while the NCAA reviews his eligibility.
AJ Smith has not played since the game against Villanova on Dec. 1 because of a shoulder injury; when he might return is unknown.
“It’s to a point now if there’s conversations with his family. We thought about having it,” Fisher said. “I said to him, ‘Go home for Christmas. Let’s talk to your family. Let’s jump on a call, see how you feel,’ and then we’ll probably make that decision on what he does from there.”
NEW YORK — Penn State’s second overall appearance in the Pinstripe Bowl, played Saturday at storied Yankee Stadium against Clemson, wasn’t a big enough draw for 16 Nittany Lions players, including star senior running back Nicholas Singleton and senior defensive tackle Zane Durant, part of a sizable PSU group that skipped the team’s final game of the 2025 season.
Perhaps the event could have been subtitled the Opt-Out Bowl.
The Lions’ tumultuous season began with three straight victories and championship expectations, but later nosedived during a six-game losing streak that cost coach James Franklin his job after an October loss to Northwestern.
But despite the historic Yankee Stadium venue, a national television audience, and Penn State riding a three-game winninig streak under Smith, the more tantalizing PSU storyline leading into Saturday’s tilt was how many Lions players were not in uniform.
Twenty-four hours before the game, Smith was asked whether he was disappointed in the numerous players who opted out.
“Well, we’re not disappointed. We have a tremendous opportunity to finish this season off the way the last three games have gone, and here’s a moment and an opportunity for these guys to step forward,” Smith said on a Zoom call with reporters. “It’s the next man up. This is today’s college football. We’re adapting and adjusting, and we have a game to play, and that’s all that matters. … We’re going to play hard and get after it like we’ve done the past four or five weeks.”
Penn State was without star senior running back Nicholas Singleton, who opted out of playing in the bowl game earlier this season.
Singleton, the Shillington, Pa., product who is the university’s career leader in rushing touchdowns (45) and all-purpose yards (5,586), and Durant, an All-Big Ten honorable mention selection, had both made their opt-out intentions public earlier this month. Singleton’s father, Tim, told The Inquirer that “the risk versus the reward wasn’t worth it” for his son to play in the Pinstripe Bowl.
“It was a tough season, with Franklin getting fired,” said Tim Singleton, who still works as a mailman in Shillington. “Time to move on. Nicholas is in New York [for the game] and is going to support his teammates, especially the guys he came in with. We’re wishing them well.”
Singleton is projected to be an early pick in the 2026 NFL draft, and Tim Singleton said his son would start the new year training in preparation for the Senior Bowl (Jan. 31), the NFL Scouting Combine (Feb. 23-March 6), and ultimately, the draft from April 23-25.
“Hopefully, [we] stay healthy,” said Tim Singleton.
Penn State defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton (33) reacts after tackling Clemson running back Adam Randall (8) during the first half of the Pinstripe Bowl on Saturday.
One senior who did not opt out was defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, who recorded two sacks in Saturday’s win.
“Dani is my MVP, because this guy didn’t have to play today,” Smith said.
Dennis-Sutton said it was a “no-brainer” to play in the season finale. “I made a dedication to this program,” he said. “I love playing football. I love this program.”
The risk/reward component was likely a key factor for many of the players not in uniform — with no college playoff implications at stake, why risk injury in a game only months away from the draft, when many college players hope to make a lucrative jump to the pros?
Both Penn State and Clemson began the season with title hopes, but each finished with a mediocre record — Penn State was 6-6, and Clemson was 7-5. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, however, already has two national championships with the Tigers on his resumé.
Smith, the former Nittany Lions star receiver, meanwhile, coached his final game at the Penn State helm Saturday. Former Iowa State coach Matt Campbell assumes coaching duties in 2026.
Smith, who will remain with the program, said before the game that Campbell would attend the Pinstripe Bowl.
“Matt will be there, but I don’t know if he’s going to be on the sidelines or not,” Smith said. “He wants to stay hidden away and allow us to run the game.”
Smith said he has had “terrific” communications with Campbell so far.
“Yeah, it’s been great. He has made himself really accessible to the staff. We’re just trying to piece together and retain roster and bring in new roster players,” Smith said. “But he’s been very, very good. The guys that have come with him so far, they’ve been awesome, as well. We’re just learning [about] each other.”
As for Penn State’s running game, Swinney said his team’s main worry going into the Pinstripe Bowl was how to contain the Lions’ rushing attack.
“The biggest thing is [Penn State] can run the football. They’re big, strong, physical,” he said. “They’ve got the all-time leading rusher in the history of Penn State [in Kaytron Allen]. If you follow Penn State football, that says a lot. There have been a lot of people [who have played] there like Franco Harris and Saquon Barkley. They’ve had a bunch of great ones roll through there. So he’s a big strong back.”
Penn State running back Kaytron Allen missed Saturday’s Pinstripe Bowl game due to injury.
But even though Smith said Allen would be in uniform Saturday, Allen did not play due to injury. Allen is Penn State’s career rushing leader (4,180 yards), and is also expected to be a coveted draft pick next spring. Quinton Martin Jr. took the bulk of the Lions’ carries Saturday and finished with 101 yards.
Nick Dawkins, Penn State’s center and the son of the late 76ers star Darryl Dawkins, was another opt-out. And there was only one PSU starting offensive lineman from the 2025 season, guard Anthony Donkoh, who was in uniform for Saturday’s game.
On the heels of a winter storm that dumped several inches of snow on New York City on Friday night and into Saturday morning, the two teams took the field in frigid conditions before 41,101 fans. It was the first time the teams had met since the 1988 Citrus Bowl, a 35-10 Clemson victory.
Congratulations to @PennStateFball, winner of the George M. Steinbrenner III Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl Championship Trophy 🏆
A dull first half ended with Penn State leading, 6-3. Lions kicker Ryan Barker booted field goals of 22 and 48 yards. Barker also later hit a 43-yarder. Quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer (23-for-34, 262 yards), who took over after starter Drew Allar suffered a season-ending ankle injury on Oct. 11, connected with Trebor Peña for a 73-yard score. He connected with Andrew Rappleyea for an 11-yard, fourth-quarter TD to ice the game.
As for Smith’s swan song as Penn State head coach?
“It was a great ride,” he said. “I’m ready for the next chapter.”
Not present
The complete list of Penn State players who opted out of the Pinstripe Bowl included: Singleton, Durant, Dawkins, OL Alex Birchmeier, DE Chaz Coleman, DE Zuriah Fisher, CB AJ Harris, OL Vega Ioane, LB Kari Jackson, DE Daniel Jennings, LB Alex Tatsch, CB Elliot Washington, S Zakee Wheatley, TE Khalil Dinkins, OL Nolan Rucci, and OL Drew Shelton.
NEW YORK (AP) — Ethan Grunkemeyer threw for a career-high 262 yards and two TDs, including a 73-yard strike to Trebor Pena early in the fourth quarter, and Penn State beat Clemson 22-10 on Saturday afternoon in the Pinstripe Bowl.
Both teams struggled at times with the frigid conditions at Yankee Stadium following a snowstorm. The temperature at kickoff was 28 degrees and the wind chill made it feel like 19, while the snow from Friday’s storm was piled in the right and left field corners.
In his seventh start since Penn State lost Drew Allar to an injury, Grunkemeyer completed 23 of 34 passes, setting career bests for completions and attempts.
His best throw was to Pena, who caught the ball at the Penn State 44, ran by Clemson safety Ricardo Jones and rumbled untouched down the left side for a 15-3 lead with 12:51 left in the fourth.
Grunkemeyer also made a 35-yard throw to Devonte Ross to get the Nittany Lions deep into Clemson territory that set up an 11-yard TD toss to Andrew Rappleyea with 4:56 left for a 22-10 lead.
Pena finished with five catches and 100 yards.
Penn State’s defense held Clemson to just 10 points and 236 total yards.
Before connecting with Pena, Grunkemeyer moved the Nittany Lions into field goal territory three times for Ryan Barker. Barker made a 22-yard field goal on Penn State’s first possession, along with a pair of 40-plus-yard kicks.
Penn State (7-6) won its final four games under interim coach Terry Smith, who took over for James Franklin following a 22-21 loss to Northwestern on Oct. 11. He will be succeeded by Matt Campbell, who was hired on Dec. 8.
Clemson’s Cade Klubnik completed 22 of 39 passes for 193 yards in his final collegiate game while getting sacked four times. He also had eight passes broken up by Penn State defenders.
The Tigers scored their lone touchdown on Adam Randall’s 2-yard plunge with 8:47 left to slice Penn State’s lead to 15-10.
Clemson (7-6) saw a four-game winning streak stopped and was held to its fewest points in a bowl game since a 24-6 loss to Alabama in the 2018 Sugar Bowl.
Takeaways
Penn State: Top running back Kaytron Allen did not play because of injury after being listed as questionable, leaving Quentin Martin as the best of the team’s remaining rushers. Martin entered the game with 32 career rushing yards and finished with 101 yards on 20 carries.
Clemson: The Tigers struggled to get any traction with their ground game and were held to 43 rushing yards. It was their second-lowest total of the season behind a 31-yard showing in their season-opening loss to LSU.
Up next
Penn State: Open the Campbell era next season at home against Marshall.
Clemson: Open the 2026 season at LSU with a new quarterback after the departure of Klubnik.
When Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree was starring at Neumann Goretti, the forward drew interest from multiple high-level programs. Two schools rose to the front of his recruitment: Miami and Villanova.
Playing for the Wildcats would give him a chance to remain in Philadelphia, but the Hurricanes’ recruiting efforts were led by assistant coach Adam Fisher, with whom Cosby-Roundtree developed a close relationship.
In the end, the 6-foot-9 forward committed to Villanova, but he gave Fisher a call to let him know of his college decision, which stuck with the coach.
They remained in touch as they went their separate ways and reconnected at the NBA Summer League this year. Fisher, by then the Temple head coach, and Cosby-Roundtree, then a video assistant with the Brooklyn Nets, sat together and chatted for the entire half of a game.
Fisher was looking to fill the director of player development position on his staff. He knew Cosby-Roundtree wanted to move into college basketball. After bringing Cosby-Roundtree in for an interview, Fisher realized the former Villanova standout had exactly what he was looking for. So the coach hired him, and now, Cosby-Roundtree is back in the city where his basketball journey started.
“I’ve been enjoying it. I love it,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “I’m learning so much about college basketball coaching now, compared to what it was when I was playing. I think for me, the biggest learning curve is patience.”
Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree says he started “naturally coaching” as a senior at Villanova.
When Cosby-Roundtree joined Villanova in the 2017-18 season, he walked into one of the top college basketball programs in the country. The Wildcats had won the national championship two years prior and were led by coach Jay Wright.
Cosby-Roundtree won a national championship in his freshman year and spent the following two seasons growing in his role as a reserve forward.
However, the end of his Villanova career was hampered by injuries.
Cosby-Roundtree had stress fractures in his shins, which he had dealt with since high school. He missed the entire 2020-21 season and played in six games in 2021-22, his final year of college basketball.
Despite not playing, Wright wanted Cosby-Roundtree to remain around the team and help players during practice. He also provided a veteran presence on the bench. Cosby-Roundtree initially wasn’t interested in coaching, but watching from the sideline at Villanova gave him a new perspective.
“I just found myself seeing a game from a different view,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “I was just overly talking, overly communicating. Like, ‘Hey, you should do this, or you should do X, Y, and Z, make sure you’re here.’ I was just naturally coaching.”
After graduating from Villanova, Cosby-Roundtree spent a year coaching at Cristo Rey before he moved into a video assistant role with the Nets.
At both stops, he learned the ins and outs of coaching. He had to learn how to be patient with high school kids and be prepared to help the professionals in the NBA.
Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree spent four years on Villanova’s basketball team.
“It was more just the difference is the amount of patience doesn’t have to be as long, for better or worse,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “You can explain it to [NBA players], and they’ll catch onto it quicker. … I think during my time with the Nets, I learned a lot about how to be organized, how to prepare, and how to improve guys.”
Cosby-Roundtree believes his experience with the Nets helped shape a seamless transition to the college game, where Fisher was waiting for him.
Fisher had the same staff for his first two years at Temple, but a position opened on the coach’s support staff when former Owls guard Khalif Wyatt — who currently is facing an NCAA penalty for placing hundreds of bets while as an assistant at West Chester in 2022 — left for a job as a video coordinator with Nets G League team this offseason.
Fisher asked Wright, as well as some of Cosby-Roundtree’s coaches in Brooklyn, about the 27-year-old coach. He got rave reviews.
“[His] character was off the charts,” Fisher said. “So then we brought him in and we talked to him, and he just aligned with what I’m looking to do. He gets Philadelphia, gets the Big 5. He understands the history of Temple. He’s a worker. This guy’s in here early. He’s detail-oriented. I’ll say, ‘Hey, I want to come up with two new drills.’ By midnight, I get an email with a video in writing and things that match what I’m looking for. He has been a fantastic addition.”
Coming to Temple also offered Cosby-Roundtree a chance to return to the city where he fell in love with basketball.
“To be able to give back to the city that I came from, and where I grew up is something that I personally really wanted to do,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “Being able to impact young lives … I enjoyed it, and that’s something that I take a lot of pride in.”
Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree grew up in Philadelphia and played at Neumann Goretti.
Cosby-Roundtree knows he still has plenty to learn, and Temple is his chance to soak in more information. He hopes to have the opportunity to one day run his own program.
“I just want to keep learning,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “The more I can learn from this staff, where everybody’s been a head coach before and they’re long-tenured assistant coaches, just learning as much as I can from them.”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A lawyer for Heisman Trophy runner-up Diego Pavia and 26 other football players has cited the NCAA’s decision to allow an NBA draft pick to return to college basketball as a reason that a federal judge should let his clients play in 2026 and 2027.
Although Pavia plans to enter the NFL draft, he is continuing the lawsuit, which challenges an NCAA rule that counts seasons spent at junior colleges against players’ eligibility for Division I football.
On Wednesday, Baylor announced that 7-foot center James Nnaji had joined the Bears after four seasons playing professionally in Europe, a span that included Nnaji being drafted No. 31 overall by the Detroit Pistons. His rights were traded to Charlotte and later the New York Knicks.
Attorney Ryan Downton seized on that news in a memorandum he filed Friday in a Tennessee federal court to support his antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA. He’s asking U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell to block the NCAA from enforcing its eligibility rules.
With Nnaji’s arrival at Baylor having been announced on Christmas Eve, Downton began his memo with a reference to Clement Clarke Moore’s poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”
“When what to my wandering eyes should appear, but … the hypocrisy of the NCAA granting four years of eligibility to a 21-year-old European professional basketball player with four years of professional experience who was drafted by an NBA team two years ago,” the attorney wrote.
The memo noted that Nnaji, who also played in the NBA Summer League, will be 25 before he runs out of eligibility.
“Meanwhile, the NCAA argues to this court that high school seniors are harmed if a 22- or 23-year-old former junior college player plays one more year of college football,” according to the filing.
Pavia initially sued the NCAA in November 2024 and won a preliminary injunction weeks later that allowed him to play this season. He led Vanderbilt to a No. 13 ranking in the AP poll and the best season in program history. The Commodores will play Iowa in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Dec. 31.
The lawsuit has since added 26 other plaintiffs, including Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar.
NCAA rules give athletes five years to play four seasons under an eligibility clock that starts at any “collegiate institution” regardless of whether that school is an NCAA member.
Pavia started playing at New Mexico Military Institute in 2020; the NCAA did not count that season toward eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He led the junior college to the 2021 national championship, then played at New Mexico State in 2022 and 2023 before transferring to Vanderbilt for 2024, making this season his sixth in college football but only his fourth at the Division I level.
The NCAA is facing several eligibility lawsuits, and Downton is representing players in another lawsuit over the NCAA’s redshirt rule, with Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson a lead plaintiff.
There is one more game separating Penn State from the Matt Campbell era, after the longtime Iowa State coach was hired by the program earlier this month.
In one week, the transfer portal for college football will open, and Campbell’s staff at Penn State is starting to take shape, with several familiar names from the coach’s tenure in Ames, Iowa.
Last week, Noah Pauley was named Penn State’s wide receivers coach and Jake Waters came aboard as the quarterbacks coach. The week before that, Taylor Mouser was announced as the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach, while Deon Broomfield (secondary) and Ryan Clanton (offensive line) also joined the staff.
Much of the defensive staff must still be filled out, especially after Jon Heacock, who was expected to follow Campbell from Iowa State to Penn State, decided to retire. The Nittany Lions reportedly are interested in former letterman D’Anton Lynn, who has been the defensive coordinator at Southern Cal the past two seasons. Adding Lynn, whose defense this year ranked inside the top 50 in points and yards allowed, would help solidify a staff with a strong nucleus.
Iowa State offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser will fill the same role at Penn State.
Mouser’s offense at Iowa State was better statistically in 2024 than 2025, but this year was only his second season as the play caller. Clanton, who played at Oregon under Chip Kelly, has been successful developing offensive linemen. While at Northern Iowa, he was instrumental in helping Trevor Penning become a first-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft and aided Jalen Travis, who was selected in the fourth round of the 2024 draft, at Iowa State.
Bloomfield has developed a couple of secondary players into NFL draft picks (T.J. Tampa in 2024, Darien Porter in 2025), while Pauley has similarly had success in the growth of his receivers, with Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins getting drafted earlier this year. Pauley also was key in Christian Watson’s development at North Dakota State.
Waters, meanwhile, has worked closely the past two years with quarterback Rocco Becht, who recently entered the transfer portal.
Campbell’s staff is a mix of experienced coaches and others who have transitioned from analysts to position coaches. But there has been plenty of staff turnover, even as interim coach Terry Smith was retained, along with assistant quarterbacks coach Trace McSorley.
Among those who have departed are defensive line coach Deion Barnes, the North Philly native who was vital in developing the likes of Abdul Carter, Chop Robinson, and Odafe Oweh. Barnes took the same job at South Carolina, alongside former Temple coach Stan Drayton, who coached running backs at Penn State and will do the same for the Gamecocks as running backs coach and assistant head coach for offense.
Former defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, also a Philly native, is heading to Tennessee at the same position, and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki is not returning next season, although he will coach in the Pinstripe Bowl. A few others followed James Franklin to Virginia Tech, including Ty Howle, Danny O’Brien, and Chuck Losey.
While Campbell has brought in some of his own guys, he will need to continue to look externally to fill out the rest of his staff, which likely will happen over the next couple of weeks.
Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht (3) was a player whom new Penn State quarterbacks coach Tyler Waters helped develop.
Flipping commits and bringing in transfers
Penn State signed just two players in the 2026 recruiting class, so it was natural that once Campbell was hired, that number would change. And it has in recent days.
Offensive linemen Mason Bandhauer and Pete Eglitis were among the seven players who previously committed to Iowa State and flipped to Penn State, bringing their 2026 recruiting class to nine players and counting.
And more reinforcements could be on the way via the transfer portal. Along with Becht, former Iowa State running back Carson Hansen and wide receivers Brett Eskildsen and Xavier Townsend have entered the portal.
Becht seems like a natural fit in Happy Valley, considering his experience, familiarity with staff, and the high-profile nature of the games Penn State will play, though there will be a considerable number of suitors. The ex-Iowa State quarterback has thrown for over 9,000 yards and 64 touchdowns in 39 starts.
Campbell likely will try to reconnect with some of the players he coached at Iowa State, but he also will need to recruit the players currently on Penn State’s roster. A number of key contributors, including edge rusher Chaz Coleman and defensive backs A.J. Harris and Elliot Washington, headline those who have announced their intention to enter the portal. Several starters from the 2025 season also will be making the jump to the NFL.
The new staff has its work cut out for them as they continue to build out the rest of the team for next year and beyond. But first, the rest of the staff remaining from the 2025 team will focus on beating Clemson on Saturday (noon, 6abc) to salvage what was a lost season in early October.
Penn State running back Kaytron Allen (13) and interim coach Terry Smith will look to end the season on a high with a win over Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl.
Games of the week
Amid a holiday weekend of college football, there are two games with local flair certainly worth watching. Enjoy.
Pinstripe Bowl: Penn State vs. Clemson (Saturday, noon, 6abc)
It’s a chance for the Nittany Lions to end a rough year by their standards on a high note against a quality Power 5 opponent. Motivation? Penn State enters the game as three-point underdogs. It’s a test for fresh-faced Nittany Lions quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, but the must-watch player on offense will be in running back Kaytron Allen as he continues a season-ending climb to the top of the Big Ten history books. Fun fact: Despite being two of the oldest programs in college football, this will only be the second time these teams face off.
Missouri quarterback and Spring-Ford alum Matt Zollers, left, will lead the Tigers in Saturday’s Gator Bowl.
Gator Bowl: Virginia vs. Missouri (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. 6abc)
Saturday will provide another chance to see Spring-Ford alumnus Matt Zollers lead the Missouri offense after Mizzou starting quarterback Beau Pribula announced his intent to leave the school. In six games this season, Zollers, the freshman backup, threw for 402 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception and won four of the six games in which he played. The Tigers hope he can keep that energy while entering the game as four-point favorites.
If someone were to ask Evan Simon how the 2025 season went, his answer would be simple — the best of his college football career. Why? He finally had an opportunity.
The quarterback’s collegiate career started at Rutgers in 2020. He spent four seasons as a backup in New Brunswick, N.J. He transferred to Temple with two years of eligibility remaining — and the chance to be a starter.
“It’s taken me six years, and for each game I traveled, whether I was at Rutgers [or] Temple and I played or didn’t play, I had one family member there,” Simon said. “My mom drove to Ann Arbor, Michigan, when I was a third string or whatever. This just had to be the year that I gave myself a chance, and it was just a matter of doing whatever it took.”
It wasn’t easy. At Temple, there were quarterback battles and a coaching change that stood in the way of Simon achieving his goal, but he did it. His career ended when Temple lost to North Texas on Nov. 28, and, while the 5-7 Owls fell short of a bowl game, Simon helped usher in a new era of Temple football.
“I’ve had a shaky career. It’s taken six years for me to start the first game of the year,” said Simon, who threw for 2,097 yards and 25 touchdowns, while throwing just two interceptions this season. “It’s been quite the journey. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”
Carving his role
Simon doesn’t like to talk a lot about what happened at Rutgers.
The Manheim Central graduate joined the team in 2020. However, much of his time with the Scarlet Knights was spent on the sideline, prompting him to enter the transfer portal in 2023.
The options were limited, but one school stuck out: Temple, which had lost quarterback EJ Warner, who transferred to Rice.
“I had two other schools that were pretty interested, but they were lower level than Temple,” Simon said. “I had a great conversation with [former Temple coach Stan Drayton]; he made me laugh. I talked with the offensive coordinator. They both seemed like great people. I just put my trust in Temple as a whole.”
Temple quarterback Evan Simon (6) threw 25 touchdowns this season.
He competed with Forrest Brock, Temple’s third-string quarterback in 2023. Brock won the job and started the first two games. The door cracked for Simon when Brock injured his wrist against Navy on Sept. 7. Simon started the next game against Coastal Carolina.
Temple nearly defeated the Chanticleers, but Simon had his coming out party the following week against Utah State. He threw five touchdowns in a 45-29 comeback win over the Aggies. Simon would start every game but one for the rest of the season.
Temple, however, finished 3-9, and Drayton was fired before the season ended. Temple then hired K.C. Keeler, who opened up the quarterback position. Simon was considering entering the portal again.
“That whole transfer portal window was not easy, especially when you know coaches are telling you about guys who they are recruiting,” Simon said. “You’d like to think your position is safe, but it’s never safe. They brought two other senior quarterbacks in during this whole past year. It’s always in the back of your head.”
Getting a chance
Former Oregon State quarterback Gevani McCoy joined Temple in April, prompting yet another competition for Simon. This time was different, though. Simon was going to do anything to earn his job back, he said.
“I would study [McCoy], in a sense,” Simon said. “I’d study how many notes is he taking, how hard is he working in the weight room, how he interacts with teammates. I said this toward the end of the year, but bringing in two other quarterbacks and the competition during camp was by far the best thing that happened to me.”
He began doing things he had never done before, like sleeping in Edberg-Olson Hall. Simon was becoming a leader on the team.
Keeler took notice too, and named Simon the starter. He threw a career-high six touchdowns in the season opener against Massachusetts on Aug. 30, while McCoy was the backup.
“Chance is all we need,” Simon said. “I think Coach Keeler is a big part of it as well. He kind of forced me to be in some of those uncomfortable situations where it’s talking to the team or just things where you’re being forced to talk more.”
Next steps
When Simon walked off the field against North Texas, it signified multiple things.
Temple lost its fourth straight game, missing a chance at a bowl game. But for Simon, it was the final game of his college career.
But it won’t be the last time he picks up a football.
Former Rutgers QB Evan Simon slept in the Temple facility for six weeks to win the starting QB job 😳
The chance of being drafted isn’t high, Simon said, but he hopes to get a camp or workout invite from an NFL team. He signed with an agent at the end of this season and will spend the winter and spring training to prepare for Temple’s pro day.
“These next couple months are all unknown,” Simon said. “I’m just going to try to stay in the moment and make the most of it when the time comes.”
Simon’s journey was filled with twist and turns, and despite getting one year as a true starter at Temple, Simon says he wouldn’t change a thing because he believes that he left an impact on the program.
“This is a group of guys where they’re harder on themselves than their coaches are on them from a care factor,” Simon said. “We won five games, and we lost two games by a total of two points, and we played five ranked opponents. And, damn, we played hard, even in blowout losses. I think you give Keeler another year, baby, here we go.”
NEWARK, N.J. — More than an hour before the game, Kevin Willard was on and around the basketball court at the Prudential Center, the place he called home for 12 seasons as Seton Hall’s head coach.
The first-year Villanova coach, like most head coaches, normally is tucked away going over final game preparations while assistants get his players loose. But Willard was home. It was an emotional couple of days since the Wildcats arrived here Monday evening.
“This place helped raise my family in a very special way,” Willard said. The family saw the same security guards who used to carry his children — one now a college freshman, the other a high school senior — around after games.
Before tipoff, Willard embraced Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway, who coached under Willard for 11 seasons at Iona and Seton Hall. A video that played before the national anthem showed highlights of Willard’s tenure at Seton Hall, and the sellout crowd of 11,153 mostly responded with a nice ovation for the coach who left in 2022 for Maryland and returned Tuesday for his first game against his old program with one of its bitter Big East rivals.
The show at that point was over. “Walking out, once I got out, we got to win a game,” Willard said.
It was a sloppy-at-times Big East fight during the first half, but Villanova used an emphatic 16-0 run early in the second half and pulled away from Seton Hall in a 64-56 victory that wasn’t as close as the final score suggested. Villanova led by as many as 20 midway through the second half.
Kevin Willard spent 12 seasons from 2010 to 2022 with Seton Hall before taking a job at Maryland.
The Big East opener was a matchup of teams off to hot starts. Willard’s Wildcats improved to 10-2 and handed Seton Hall (11-2) its second loss of the season.
The Wildcats entered Tuesday ranked 30th in the NCAA’s NET rankings, and they shot up to 20th on Wednesday morning after winning their first Quad 1 game of the season. By 10 p.m. Tuesday, the metrics site KenPom had Villanova ranked 24th. Seton Hall was just outside the Associated Press Top 25 this week. The Pirates were 27th, based on ballot points. Surely, Villanova will be in the conversation to be ranked for the first time since November 2023 next week.
The Wildcats’ two losses are to then-No. 8 BYU and No. 2 Michigan. They hit the holiday break with a home victory over Pittsburgh and road wins at Wisconsin and Seton Hall.
“We’re trending in the right direction,” Willard said. “I like the fact that no one’s really talking about us.”
They are now. It was a light day on the college basketball calendar, and, given Seton Hall’s surprising start to the season and Willard making his return to Newark, there were plenty of eyeballs watching Villanova pass the eye test.
Freshman point guard Acaden Lewis “controlled the game,” Holloway said, after he led all scorers with 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting to go with five rebounds, two assists, and three steals (to cancel out three turnovers) in a season-high 37 minutes. Redshirt freshman Matt Hodge added 12 points and six rebounds, and redshirt sophomore Bryce Lindsay scored 15 points on nine shots.
The night was far from perfect for Villanova. The Wildcats turned the ball over 18 times and had trouble with Seton Hall’s press after the lead ballooned late in the game. They allowed 16 offensive rebounds and had just eight of their own.
Villanova freshman guard Acaden Lewis played a season-high 37 minutes in a 64-56 win over Seton Hall on Tuesday night.
But Villanova had an answer every time Seton Hall pushed back in the second half. Devin Askew hit a three-pointer to push the lead back to 17 (50-33). Hodge put back a Lewis miss with just over eight minutes to play that stopped a 6-0 Seton Hall run and bumped the lead back to 16. The Pirates then cut their deficit to 13 before Lindsay made a three-pointer. He made 3 of 7 attempts on the night.
“We’re battle-tested,” Willard said. “We played BYU on the road, Michigan on the road, Wisconsin on the road, three Big 5 games … so I have a lot of confidence in the fact that our guys have played against a lot of good teams.”
Villanova overcame its struggles because of its defense. Willard said the game plan was to make dynamic Seton Hall point guard Adam “Budd” Clark, a West Catholic graduate, be a scorer and not a “sprayer.” The Wildcats, who utilized a zone defense, forced him into tough spots and limited his driving opportunities. He also was limited to just five minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, and Seton Hall’s offense was disjointed without him. Clark finished 1-for-11 from the floor, and Seton Hall converted just 33.3% of its shot attempts.
The Pirates were 15-for-30 on what were considered layups by the official stats, but the majority of their shots were well-contested. The 16-0 run happened mostly because of Villanova’s active hands, which forced steals and easy transition buckets.
Earlier in the season, defense was one of Willard’s major concerns. It recently has become a strength. Why? Lewis said physical practices where fouls aren’t called have translated into higher-intensity stretches of defense during games.
Villanova returns home on New Year’s Eve for a game vs. DePaul (8-5). But first, a few days off to celebrate the holiday, a break that got a little merrier with Tuesday’s win.
“We’re trending up,” Lewis said. “Since that Michigan game, we really locked in and built with each other. [Michigan] showed us there’s levels, and we’re building up to that level to see them again when March comes around and we want a different look when that happens.”
After Tuesday, playing meaningful basketball in March seems like a real possibility.
In a statement on social media, the St. Joseph’s men’s basketball team announced Tuesday that Deuce Jones II is no longer a member of the squad.
“St. Joseph’s thanks Deuce for his effort this season and wishes him success in the next chapter of his career,” the statement read.
A sophomore, Jones missed the last two games because of what was called an “illness” against Delaware State and then “personal” reasons against Coastal Carolina. The 6-foot-2 guard averaged a team-high 15.8 points, starting in eight of the 10 games he played in. St. Joe’s lost to Coastal Carolina, 68-62, on Monday without Jones and four other players.
This offseason, Jones transferred to St. Joe’s from Big 5 and Atlantic 10 rival La Salle. As an Explorer, Jones averaged 12.5 points and 4.2 rebounds, making 39.7% of his shots from the field. The Trenton native was the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year and was a seven-time Rookie of the Week.
The Hawks, who saw their former coach Billy Lange leave the program weeks before the start of the season, are off to a 7-5 start with one game remaining before Atlantic 10 play under new head coach Steve Donahue.
Jones reposted the team’s statement in an Instagram story with two shrugging emojis. He has since deleted the story and replaced it with posts featuring his St. Joe’s teammates, including captions such as “THWND [The Hawk Will Never Die]” and “My bruddas 4L.”
Deuce Jones has splashed his IG story this afternoon with Saint Joseph’s photos, including these two: pic.twitter.com/7wv5rh4M67
