In a transfer portal class full of former Iowa State players, following Matt Campbell and Penn State’s mass exodus after James Franklin left for Virginia Tech, it was necessary for Campbell’s new staff to land some guys who have seen a lot of football.

Penn State football redshirt senior defensive linemen Keanu Williams and Siale Taupaki were those guys.

The two former UCLA Bruins also aren’t strangers to defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn and defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe, who both held spots on UCLA’s defensive coaching staff in 2023.

With kickoff now only 11 days away for the new-look Nittany Lions, Campbell and Co. are wrapping up camp and trying to finalize the final depth chart.

“On the d-line, Keanu [Williams] and Siale [Taupaki], those guys have had a remarkable last eight days of practice,” Campbell said at his media availability on Tuesday. “Even today, again, keep showing up and playing really good football.”

Campbell also briefly touched on how the team’s captains will be selected for the 2026 campaign.

There will be a team and a coaching staff vote to determine the leaders, and based on talk from Campbell, Williams and Taupaki could very well be in the mix, especially considering their experience and relationship with Lynn and Malloe.

Williams was never the flashiest player during his two-year stint at Oregon or three seasons at UCLA, and he even felt the ups and downs of college as a whole turned him away from football for a while.

His time at Penn State has rekindled his love for the game little by little.

“I think I’ve grown mentally. I think that’s the biggest thing for me is just mentally locking in and playing the game and having fun and enjoying myself playing the game again,” Williams said on Tuesday. “I found that, and that’s the biggest thing that I feel like this camp has done for me.”

Outside of camp, Williams said just being at Penn State has been a fun experience for him. He likes Campbell’s coaching style and the fact that he gets to stay in the Big Ten.

He understands the league’s demands, but knows that the room the Nittany Lions have built can face off with the best guys in the country.

“We want to be the baddest group out there. We call ourselves the Facers, and that’s just our little group that we have. We got to live by that every day, we got to practice like that, and we got to have our daily habits, living up to our name,” Williams said. “We want to be aggressive, we want to be the best we can be, we want to be the best in the country.”

Campbell also named Williams and Taupaki as two players who have stood out most in camp, although they were part of a bit of a long list.

Taupaki is set to enter his seventh season of college football after spending all of his previous years at UCLA. The jump to Penn State was a big one, but Malloe’s belief in him has him as confident as ever heading into the campaign.

Taupaki and the rest of the defensive linemen were at Malloe’s house for a Sunday debrief prior to the 2026 NFL Draft. Taupaki saw some of the Nittany Lions talking about and preparing for the draft, but Taupaki didn’t feel that same belief in himself.

Malloe noticed Taupaki’s solitary nature at the meeting and leaned over to him.

“He basically sat me up straight, looked at me dead in the eye, and was like, ‘I believe in you, but you got to believe in yourself more and understand that you can take this to the next level,'” Taupaki said. “From that day going forward, he probably doesn’t recall it, but I remember this vividly because that was like a wake-up call. For somebody else to see the vision that I didn’t see that I need to start seeing. It pretty much put me in the situation now.”

Taupaki and Williams’ similar routes to Penn State have forced them to lean on each other and to embrace the defensive line as a unit.

Whether it’s extra cardio or film study, the two are constantly working on being the best versions of themselves for the team.

“Sometimes it’s not too much, nothing crazy because we want to do everything that we can within practice. When we feel like some things aren’t hit within practice, once that whistle blows and practice [is] done, ‘Come on guys, over here,’ … We’re just trying to stay ready, game ready. Because when that day do come, we’re trying to fly,” Taupaki said.

Taupaki’s entire arc as a football player is set to culminate in what should be his final college football season, and he gets to do it at the start of a new era for Penn State.

He has stepped up as a leader and hopes that his different approaches to training and communication, along with the change of scenery, will propel him to a solid year.

“I can say I definitely stepped up … I was always the guy that made sure I take care of one another. I understand that leadership. You get to stand up, get out, do what you got to do,” Taupaki said. “But I feel like if you just go out and reach one, one at a time, grab everybody, you’ll definitely bring everyone altogether.”