Matt Campbell’s first public appearance with his 2026 squad is in the books. The Blue-White Practice lasted roughly an hour and 35 minutes, and consisted of team stretches, individual and positional drills, and live team reps, all within Beaver Stadium.

Here are some of our top observations from the Nittany Lions’ only on-field showing of the spring.

Warm Up

The practice kicked off with warmup lines, as the entire roster stretched out by the south end zone.

Positional & Individual Drills

After loosening up, the team gathered at midfield, then broke into special teams and positional drills. The offensive linemen worked together in one corner of the field while others went through kickoff drills, but no contact was permitted. The defensive backs practiced backpedaling and tracking the ball in the air.

Meanwhile, the quarterbacks and running backs practiced handoff exchanges and gap reads. They moved on to working on checkdowns, as coaches tossed a yoga ball at the quarterbacks to force them to step up in the pocket and locate the running back in the flat. It appears James Peoples, Carson Hansen, and Quinton Martin Jr. have emerged as the team’s top three backs.

The rain made its presence felt as receivers struggled to catch passes during the individual route-run period. Balls hit the turf more often than not.

7-on-7 & Team Drills

As team drills began, fans got their first look at starting quarterback Rocco Becht, who has been recovering from a pair of shoulder injuries. But it didn’t last long, as he and the offense went three-and-out.

The second-unit offense featured Connor Barry at quarterback, who fit in a tight-window pass to tight end Finn Furmanek to move the chains. Alongside him at running back was Quinton Martin, who dropped a checkdown in the flat. Barry continued his strong day, finding Brian Kortovich on a crossing route to move the chains on third down. Receiver Logan Cunningham worked himself open on a corner route, but couldn’t come down with the catch. He redeemed himself on the next play with a quick curl route for easy yardage. Barry found Zay Robinson on a shallow crossing route to move the chains again. Barry finished a strong drive with a touchdown strike to Kortovich.

The first-team offense came back out, and Becht immediately found his potential WR1, Koby Howard, on back-to-back plays. Becht looked toward Howard a third straight time, but it was broken up. On third down, Becht found Benjamin Brahmer to move the chains in the red zone. Becht looked for 6’5″ receiver Karon Brookins on a fade route, but Audavion Collins broke it up.

In the middle of the drive, an announcement was made that former Penn State defensive lineman Dani Dennis-Sutton was drafted No. 120 overall by the Green Bay Packers, prompting cheers from the entire stadium.

Freshman Peyton Falzone got his first live team reps of the day with a handoff to Peoples, who bounced his run outside for a huge gain. On the very next play, fellow freshman Josiah Zayas plucked Falzone’s pass right out of the air for a pick-six, prompting the entire defense to chase after him to celebrate.

Next, it was Jack Lambert running the huddle, who handed it off to Cam Wallace on back-to-back plays for solid gains. After an incompletion, Lambert bounced back with a completion to Ethan Black. On second down, Lambert rolled out and found Cooper Alexander for a short gain. The drive ended with a made field goal by Ryan Barker.

Carson Hansen got a pair of touches, stretching a run to the outside on first down and picking up a few more on second down with a catch in the flat. Anthony Lynn turned the heat up on Barry, sending Cael Brezina on a blitz to force an incompletion and end the drive.

As live reps resumed, Martin Jr. moved the offense deep into the red zone after a pair of carries and then punched it into the end zone shortly after. On the next drive, James Peoples continued to show off a nice burst as a runner, working into the open field. Barry threw a back-shoulder fade to Robinson in the end zone, which fell incomplete, but drew a pass interference call on Zion Tracy in coverage. Shortly after, Barry went untouched into the end zone on a quarterback draw, setting up Barker for a successful extra-point attempt.

The defense tightened up on Kase Evans and the projected fourth-string offense, stuffing back-to-back runs to force fourth down. The defense held strong for a fourth-down stop to end practice.