It’s rare for a player of King Mack’s talent to leave Penn State, and even more rare for, well, any player to transfer from a school and then come back.
Mack checks both boxes.
After a promising true freshman season in 2023, Mack surprised many Penn State fans by transferring to Alabama in the spring.
It didn’t end up working out in Tuscaloosa. Mack didn’t get a lot of playing time, and considering Penn State’s secondary lost Kevin Winston Jr. for the season after just one game, it’s fair to say Penn State could have used Mack.
They can use him this year, too.
Height: 5-foot-10
Weight: 187 pounds
Hometown: Miami, Florida
Before Penn State: Mack came to Penn State as one of the school’s most touted signees of the 2023 recruiting class. He was a four-star recruit and a top 100 prospect at Florida’s prestigious St. Thomas Aquinas High School and helped the team to state championships in all three of his seasons with the school (he played his first year at Dillard High School).
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Mack committed to Penn State in late June 2022.
2023: Mack was one of Penn State’s most-used true freshmen in 2023, appearing in all 13 games. He played mainly on special teams but did pick up three tackles and a quarterback hurry. He was set to be a key contributor for Penn State in 2024, until…
Last year: Now playing for Alabama, Mack played in nine games on defense, totaling 106 snaps. 38 of those snaps came in the team’s loss at Tennessee Oct. 19.Aside from that, his season-high was just 19, which took place Week 1 in a 63-0 squeaker over Western Kentucky.
So it’s fair to wonder if leaving Penn State was the right choice for Mack.
A quote by Mack: ”Coach Franklin, he says coaching is his job, but he loves it so much that he’s do it for free. (You don’t hear that) from a coach. You know, when you hear about a head coach, you think money, being the boss of everything, but for him to say that he’ll do it for free, that just shows the love he has for not just the sport, but the kids.” — Mack on James Franklin to Blue-White Illustrated last summer before his commitment
A quote about Mack: ”He’d been talking to the guys on our team all year long. Still close with those guys. I think he saw a bunch of the guys that he came in with, with the year two, take a big step, which he would have been a part of that if he was here.
And I think, kind of like I talked about before about not knowing what you’re going to get out of the portal as coaches, in terms of the players you’re bringing in, or players going to other programs that don’t know the culture and what it’s going to be like. So for King, I think very early on, it was a no-brainer for us because I think he would have played a significant amount for us last year. And I think for King, why take unnecessary risk? He knows us. We know him. So it didn’t take very long. Once he entered the portal, I had a conversation with him. He was talking to our guys. Dex [Anthony Poindexter] got on the phone with him. We were able to kind of get it done pretty quickly.” — James Franklin
