It’s been exactly two weeks since Matt Campbell announced that Marcus Neal Jr. switched from safety to linebacker.

Questions first surrounded Neal’s role with the team after he did not play a snap against USC in Week 6. Campbell justified the soft benching by citing a “premium on coverage” against the pass-happy Trojans. Since then, however, the junior played just 11 snaps against Michigan, one against Purdue, and seven against Washington.

“We still feel like he just needs a little bit more time at the position before he goes out there on first and second down,” defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn said of Neal Tuesday. “But he’s doing well, and you can tell that when we made that switch, you can usually tell a certain level of it has to come naturally for it to happen, and it does with him.”

The coaching staff deployed Neal on third down for most of his snaps against Washington, attempting to maximize his effectiveness at pass coverage near the box and line of scrimmage.

Lynn identified run fits as the biggest area Neal needs to improve to see extended playing time at linebacker, including in early-down situations.

“There is some stuff that’s different from a run fit standpoint. It happens a lot quicker down [in the box],” Lynn said.

Neal has been working at weakside linebacker since the position change was announced on October 28.

Lynn said the former safety’s abilities that are most translatable to linebacker are getting off blocks, blitzing, tackling, and playing downhill.

“I think [Neal] is a guy that you go to practice every day and you kind of notice just the growth he makes on a daily basis,” Matt Campbell said Tuesday. “But again, I think the priority for us right now is making sure we’re doing everything in our power for the team to play the best football in November, and making sure our best players are on the field in those critical moments.”

Neal earned third-team All-Big 12 honors just a year ago with Iowa State, racking up 77 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss, five passes defended, two interceptions, a sack, and a forced fumble in 12 starts.

The Kansas City, Missouri, native was ranked as the No. 5 safety and the No. 83 overall player in the 2026 transfer portal before he committed to Penn State. Neal was the third Iowa State player to announce his move to Happy Valley, sparking widespread excitement for the playmaking safety and his iconic shark celebration.

But in 2026, Neal has started just four games, totaling 23 tackles and two forced fumbles.

He has zero sacks, zero interceptions, zero passes defended, and, most notably, zero tackles for loss, which is alarming, considering Neal is No. 13 among active FBS defensive backs in tackles for loss with 12 in his career.

The Big 12 does not mirror the physicality or athleticism of the Big Ten, but Neal has proved he has enough talent to make this season’s falloff concerning.

Another important factor in this equation is the logjam at defensive back in general for the Nittany Lions.

Safeties Zion Tracy, Jamison Patton, and Jeremiah Cooper have played exceptionally well for the Nittany Lions. As of Week 11, the veteran trio has combined for 974 snaps in 2026. They obviously won’t be coming off the field barring injury.

So when Penn State’s linebacker room thinned out after Caleb Bacon switched to defensive end in August, Alex Tatsch was ruled out for the year in mid-October, and Cam Smith hadn’t returned from his injury, it made sense to move Neal into the unit.

Lynn and Campbell have been well-documented as saying they would prioritize utilizing their players in ways that are most advantageous to the team on Saturdays.

But for now, Neal seems stuck between two units that don’t urgently need his services, making for an underwhelming first year under the coach who brought him from Ames, Iowa, to Penn State.

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