A player who Penn State was once thought to be the favorite for plans to enter the transfer portal.
Will Norman, a 6-foot-4, 300-pound ‘23 DT from Eastside High School in Camden, New Jersey, who had Penn State in his top five before committing to and then signing with Florida, plans to leave Gainesville after one season, Matt Zenitz of 247Sports first reported Wednesday afternoon.
Florida freshman defensive lineman Will Norman is expected to enter the transfer portal, sources tell @247sports.
Was a Class of 2023 four-star recruit.https://t.co/vptFrVyOZJ pic.twitter.com/YZuzTlQFmk
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) November 29, 2023
Norman played in Florida’s first four games, but ended up redshirting.
Although there’s no word of PSU offering Norman out of the portal, PSU was in Norman’s final five along with Florida, LSU, Michigan and Texas A&M.
In March 2022, Norman received a crystal ball projection to Penn State from 247Sports. Penn State offered him in May 2020.
Norman was at Penn State in October 2021 for its nine-overtime loss to Illinois, and came back in March 2022.
After that visit, Norman told Blue-White Illustrated that going to Happy Valley was “definitely an eye opener.”
“I’ve been there before,” Norman said, “but just seeing everything I didn’t see last time, doing things I didn’t get to do last time, it opened my eyes for sure. When it’s game day, the focus isn’t totally on the recruit. The focus is on winning the game, so I let the coaches do their thing for those visits.”
During his recruitment, Norman got to know Penn State’s defensive line coach at the time, John Scott Jr. Scott is now the defensive line coach for the NFL’s Detroit Lions and was succeeded at Penn State by Deion Barnes.
Barnes’ first regular-season as a full-time college football coach was a success, and PSU might need to replace some talent on the interior next year. Hakeem Beamon and Dvon Ellies both have eligibility remaining, but have also been playing college football for five seasons, so what they decide remains to be seen.
Wherever he decides to play, Norman will have four years of eligibility left.
