Penn State spring practice has begun, and a group of new Nittany Lions from high school recruiting and the transfer portal are now practicing at Holuba Hall. But how are the players who transferred away from Penn State doing?

Ten scholarship players, including some starters, have transferred away from Happy Valley and are now in the first spring with their new programs. The transfer portal will be open again from Wednesday, April 16, to Friday, April 25, so more players may join this list, but for now, here is how former Penn Staters are doing with their new schools.

Beau Pribula, Missouri

Former backup quarterback Beau Pribula was the first Penn State transfer to get a feel for his new program. Missouri started spring practice on February 28 and ended on March 20. However, we won’t see Pribula in this year’s spring game due to the construction of the Tigers’ Memorial Stadium.

According to a story from the Kansas City Star, when spring practice started in February, Pribula was expected to become the starter by the fall. However, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz has not named a No. 1 and used rock, paper, scissors to decide the first-team quarterback in practice.

However, Pribula seems to remain the favorite for the starting role now that last season’s backup Drew Pyne has entered the transfer portal and redshirt sophomore Sam Horn was recently cleared to throw again after recovering from Tommy John surgery.

The Tigers also have redshirt freshmen Brett Brown and Tommy Lock, neither of whom have seen playing time so far in their careers, and former four-star Pennsylvania native Matt Zollers is a true freshman.

All the quarterbacks on Missouri’s roster, except Pribula and Zollers, have at least one year of experience in offensive coordinator Kirby Moore’s system. Despite Pribula having to play catch-up in terms of learning the playbook, Drinkwitz has already been impressed.

“Beau’s extremely diligent in his work,” Drinkwitz told the Kansas City Star. “Does a lot of preparation and excited about what he’ll be able to contribute.”

Trey Wallace, Ole Miss

Ole Miss is no stranger to living in the transfer portal. The Rebels have posted consecutive top-three transfer classes since 2022, according to 247Sports, and have brought in a total of 90 transfers over that time. This year, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin nabbed Trey Wallace to help replenish his wide receiver core.

The Rebels lost Jordan Watkins, Juice Wells, and start receiver Tre Harris to the NFL Draft and Noreel White, Ayden Williams, and Micah Davis to the transfer portal. However, they have brought in Wallace, Traylon Ray from West Virginia, Deuce Alexander from Wake Forest, De’Zhaun Stribling from Oklahoma State, and Caleb Odom from Alabama to fill the gaps.

Harris, Watkins, and Wells combined for 137 catches, 2,489 yards, and 22 touchdowns last season, and the incoming transfers combined for 169 catches, 2,493 yards, and 16 touchdowns while on their previous rosters. Wallace has the second most receptions, yards, and touchdowns of the new transfers, behind Stribling.

The only returning receiver worth noting for the Rebels is junior Cayden Lee, the team’s third-leading receiver last fall. Based on stats and experience, it looks as though Wallace and Stribling will be the other two starters alongside Lee. But there is a lot of time between now and the start of the season.

“We lost a lot of players at a lot of spots, including receiver,” Kiffin told On3. “I’m really excited about the players that came in. When you go out there, you feel like, OK, we got a really good shot out here. Now, they’ve got to develop and play tougher with the quarterbacks. But it’s a really good-looking room.”

Wallace also explained in a press conference on March 25 why he decided to leave Penn State.

“It’s always hard, especially leaving a great team like Penn State, but I wanted to take a chance on myself this last year and just really find a passing offense that, passing being their No. 1 focus,” Wallace said.

We’ll have to wait until the fall to see Wallace take the field for the Rebels, though. Ole Miss has joined a small group of other prominent schools to announce that it will not play a spring game this year.

Omari Evans, Washington

Omari Evans was the other former starting Penn State receiver to transfer. Best known for his speed on the gridiron, Evans will look to make an impact at Washington for his senior season. Like Ole Miss, the Huskies brought in a haul of players from the transfer portal for head coach Jedd Fisch’s second season.

Of the 16 players Washington added, the two receivers are Evans and former five-star Johntay Cook II from Texas, but Cook was dismissed from the program shortly after his arrival. The Huskies also lost two of their top receivers from a year ago in Giles Jackson and Jeremiah Hunter.

However, Washington’s second-leading receiver, Denzel Boston, will return for his senior season. Boston had 834 yards and nine touchdowns on 63 receptions. But the Huskies lacked receiver depth as the fourth-leading wide receiver was behind two tight ends and two runningbacks and had just 11 catches for 138 yards and one score.

The issue with Washington’s receiver room heading into this season appears to be the lack of experience. There are two senior receivers, Boston and Evans, but the two juniors, three sophomores, three redshirt freshmen, and five true freshmen behind them don’t have the same production at the college level.

The opportunity for Evans to start immediately is evident. Washington’s spring practice started on April 1, and according to Huskies Wire, Evans flashed immediately by hauling in two deep touchdown catches and another impressive catch on a fade route at the end of the final team period.

“We have an opportunity now with Omari and Denzel together, and with Rashid [Williams], and with Audric [Harris], and with [Kevin Green Jr.], and all these young guys, we should be a lot better,” Fisch told Huskies Wire. “Omari looks like he can give us a lot out there, speed, his ability to catch the ball in traffic. He caught some contested balls today. I was excited, especially the way practice ended.”

Cam Miller, Rutgers

Cam Miller was one of 11 portal additions for Rutgers this offseason. He and former Marshall corner Jacobie Henderson were the only two defensive back additions to a room that was the 87th-best pass defense on a per-game basis in 2024.

The Scarlet Knights are returning just one starting corner from last season in Bo Mascoe, so the opportunity to start is there for Miller, but he and Henderson were two senior additions to an already veteran-led defensive backs room that consisted of five seniors before their arrivals.

However, not much of anything has been reported about Miller so far this spring. At least his new co-defensive coordinator Robb Smith is familiar with his skill sets. Smith was an analyst for Penn State for the past two seasons and had two previous stints at Rutgers, from 2009 to 2012 and again from 2020 to 2021.

Miller appeared in 40 games and started five as a Nittany Lion. He had 56 total tackles, eight for a loss, eight pass breakups, one interception, and four sacks.

Miller’s first appearance as a Scarlet Knight will be in the Scarlet-White Game on Saturday, April 26.

Jerry Cross, Memphis

It looks like the No. 1 tight end job is wide open at Memphis. The Tigers lost their top three tight ends from a season ago, including first-team All-AAC tight end Anthony Landphere, but they brought in three freshmen. Jerry Cross was the only transfer in at that position out of their whopping 30 total transfer additions.

Like Miller, there hasn’t been anything reported on Cross ahead of his redshirt junior season. Cross rated as a three-star transfer but was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, according to 247Sports.

Cross played primarily on special teams while at Penn State. He appeared in seven games across three seasons and did not record any stats.

Like most other spring games, Cross will make an appearance in the Tigers’ spring game on Saturday, April 26.

Smith Vilbert, North Carolina

Smith Vilbert was the last former Penn Stater to find a new home for the 2025 season. Vilbert, now entering his seventh season, transferred to North Carolina on March 19, two weeks after the Tar Heels started spring practice on March 4.

Despite the late arrival, Vilbert could still make an instant impact on a North Carolina team that ranked 10th in sacks last season.

“He should be able to arrive and be immediately rotational,” Jason Staples said on the 247Sports Inside Carolina podcast. “He’s going to play more than 20 snaps a game at North Carolina. He’s going to play probably 35 to 40 snaps a game.”

North Carolina retained its top two sack leaders in defensive tackle Beau Atkinson and linebacker Amare Campbell but lost both edge rushers Kaimon Rucker and Desmond Evans.

Along with Vilbert, new head coach Bill Belichick also brought in edge rusher Melkart Abou-Jaoude from Delaware and signed three-star recruits Chinedu Onyeagoro, Austin Alexander, and Emmanuel Nwaiwu.

The Tar Heels will not have a spring game this year. Instead, Vilbert’s first action wearing the Carolina Blue will come at the “Practice Like a Pro” event to conclude spring practice on Saturday, April 12.

T.A. Cunningham, Garden City Community College

Class of 2024 three-star defensive tackle T.A. Cunningham left Happy Valley after his first season with the Nittany Lions. He opted to transfer to Garden City Community College with four years of eligibility remaining. It will also be Cunningham’s sixth school in as many years as he played at four different high schools and now two colleges.

Garden City CC is a junior college best known for being featured on the Netflix original series “Last Chance U” and was the first college stop for All-Pro wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

Cunningham did not play a snap at Penn State as a freshman but should be able to contribute at Garden City CC. The Busters went 1-10 last season, and the defense produced just 17.5 sacks.

Tyler Johnson, East Carolina

After three seasons with the Nittany Lions, Tyler Johnson will have two years of eligibility at East Carolina. Johnson appeared in 11 games as a special teamer last season but has never recorded a stat while at Penn State.

However, he may have an opportunity to get playing time as a Pirate. East Carolina lost three of its five leading receivers from a season ago but brought in Jaquaize Pettaway from Oklahoma and Payton Mangrum from South Carolina in the transfer portal.

Johnson was a three-star recruit in Penn State’s 2022 recruiting class and was ranked as No. 91 in the country and the No. 16 player out of Virginia.

Mehki Flowers, Akron

Daniel George core.

The safety/wide receiver two-way player Mehki Flowers has taken his talents to Akron after three seasons at Penn State. Flowers played primarily as a safety but switched to wide receiver in 2024. The 247Sports Composite rankings had Flowers as a four-star recruit and ranked him as the No. 9 athlete in the nation and the No. 4 player out of Pennsylvania coming out of high school.

Flowers played in 14 games as a Nittany Lion but never recorded any stats. He joins 12 other players in the Zips’ transfer class, including safeties Alex Branch from Kent State and Jamari Somerville from JMU, and receivers Tim Grear Jr. from Fresno State and Brandon Hills Jr. from Washington State.

George was the last Penn State receiver to transfer to Akron, and in two seasons, he recorded 119 catches, 1,322 yards, and three touchdowns in two seasons. Perhaps Flowers can do the same.

Tyrece Mills, UConn

Tyrece Mills will use his final year of eligibility at UConn. Mills spent the previous two seasons at Penn State and at Lackawanna Community College before that. While at Penn State, he played in 18 games, made 17 tackles, and caught his only interception against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Along with Mills, the Huskies signed safeties Devin Pringle from Grand Valley State, Kamo’i Latu from Wisconsin, and Kobi Albert from Mississippi State. However, Latu and Pringle are also redshirt seniors and will all compete for the starting spot.