The transfer portal doesn’t open for more than two weeks, but Penn State and everybody else is already looking.
One player who has already announced his intent to answer the portal is West Virginia running back Jahiem White.
For multiple reasons, White is a player who would make sense for new Penn State coach Matt Campbell and his staff to target.
For one, White has been productive when healthy. In 2023, he averaged 7.7 yards per carry, gaining 842 yards and rushing for four touchdowns. White fell off a bit the next year, averaging two fewer yards per carry. Still, he ended with 845 yards and a career-high seven touchdowns.
White didn’t have the opportunity to do much on the field in 2025, suffering a season-ending injury in Week 2.
Now, he’s moving on from West Virginia, and could his next stop be two-and-a-half hours from home?
Penn State didn’t offer White out of high school.
He told the York Daily Record before the Penn State-West Virginia game in 2024 that it bugged him,
“It did bother me a little,” White said. “Penn state was the first big-time school I communicated with. When they didn’t show any interest, I was like, ‘OK …”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Penn State not offering White motivated him.
“I know people were counting me out and I just came in here and worked with a chip on my shoulder,” he said. “Put my head down and went to the weight room and just put everything to the side to work hard every day.”
“Yeah, this (Penn State game) is a big deal for me. Knowing they didn’t recruit me, and they were my first big-time school I was (interested in) …”
On the flip side, the woman who took White into her York home is a Penn State graduate, and White referred to her as his “Godmother,” so there’s a PSU connection there.
There’s also a connection with Campbell, who coached against White in 2024.
So will Penn State go after White in the portal?
It’s hard to say just yet, but considering Penn State is losing Kaytron Allen and Nichoals Singleton (eligibility) and White is more experienced that any other internal option, it’s worth thinking about bringing him back to PA out of the transfer portal.
