Dairy word wizard @Cargill. Hobby farmer & Marathoner. #PennState grad, Bucks season member, sports junkie, @caseymars20 hub. Put Hope in Jesus. Tweets are mine
Before spring practice started Matt Campbell held Zoom calls with Penn State lettermen.
Not one call. Multiple calls. Organized by decade. The 1950s. The 1960s. The 1970s. All the way through the 2010s and 2020s.
A head coach four months into the job reaching back through seventy years of program history before his team had taken a single spring practice rep.
Last weekend lettermen from the 1980s through the 2000s were back in Holuba Hall.
Kerry Collins. Kyle Brady, Ki-Jana Carter.
Genuine legends of the program walking the same halls as a roster that was almost entirely built in the last three months.
Campbell's exact words on why it matters.
"The history of this football program โ to be able to represent this, to understand the lineage โ it's bigger than me. It's bigger than any of us."
And then this one. The most important thing he has said since arriving in Happy Valley.
"Our greatest gift is those that came before us."
Penn State's lettermen wall in Lasch has 2,200 names. Campbell said he felt goosebumps the first time he saw it.
He is not treating those 2,200 names as decoration.
He is treating them as the foundation.
We Are. ๐ฆ
"I LOVE JESUS"
Lamar Jackson sports a powerful message on his sweatshirt while arriving for the first day of off-season workouts.
The reigning MVP is turning heads and making a bold statement of faith as he returns to the field.
If your parents are 65 and above, please listen.
They are not going to tell you they are running out of time. That is not how they were built. They will wave you off, say they are fine, tell you not to worry, because they spent a lifetime protecting you from hard truths and they are still doing it now.
But time is not asking their permission.
Look closely the next time you see them, really look. The hands that once seemed so capable, the voice that used to fill a room, the eyes that still light up the moment you walk in, because you walking in is still, after all these years, one of the best parts of their day.
You are so busy becoming while they are quietly diminishing, and both things are happening at the same time and nobody talks about it.
The repeated stories are not a malfunction. They are what mattered most to them, they are trying to pass something to you before they go, so receive it.
One day you will be mid-sentence and suddenly remember the exact way they laughed, and it will stop you cold, and you would trade almost anything to hear it one more time in real time, not just in memory.
That day is coming, you do not know when.
So call, not when you have time, because you do not have time, nobody does, but call anyway, visit anyway, sit in the quiet with them and let it mean something.
Give them your presence while they can still feel it, not later.
Now.
If you haven't run a marathon you wouldn't understand why 18 miles is the number they chose. Why not 16 or 20? Because mile 18 is when it gets hard. Miles 18-23 are the hardest. It's such a slap in the face to finishers when these folks get a medal for dropping out. Pathetic.
Incredible piece of journalism!
โYou know,โ he said. โWhat I want deep down in my heart is I want to be a Milwaukee Buck for the rest of my career and win here.โ
Things I've learned becoming a dad at 40 years old:
1. Your health becomes the most important thing in your life. If you want a chance to see your kids grow up you need to take care of your body.
10 examples of the college football transfer mess:
- The top 10 high school QB recruits in 2024 have transferred colleges a total of 11 times in 2 years. Only 1 is still with his original team.
- Iowa State had 55 players enter the portal and 16 graduate this year. Every starter has left the team besides the kicker. Donโt worry, they have 45 incoming transfers and 25 new high school or JUCO recruits.
- A QB flipped his commitment from Miami to Florida on the promise of a $14 million NIL deal that never came through. He never enrolled and is now on his 4th team.
- Duke had a 2 yr/$8 mil contract with their QB. After his first season there, he decided not to enter the draft and released a video recommitting to the team. Nevertheless, 3 hours before the deadline, he enter the portal and announced a transfer to Miami, leaving Duke flailing. Duke has sued the player.
- An OK St player entered the portal and announced intention to make official visits to multiple teams, including scheduling dates to visit OK St, the school he was already enrolled and playing at.
- Reporter to Miami QB: โwhat is it like being you as a student (in the week leading up to the national championship?" Beck, who transferred to Miami in 2025, laughed: โNo class. I graduated 2 years ago.โ
- One player has transferred 6 times, playing for 7 schools: LSU, Auburn, Texas State, Western Kentucky, Tulane, Georgia State, and Incarnate Word.
- Four days after signing a new 1-year, $4+ million exclusive contract with Washington, the QB entered the transfer portal. Washington threatened legal action and the player recommitted to the school.
- UNLV QB claimed he school orally promised $100k of NIL. After a 3-0 start, he had only received $3,000. He quit the team, left the school, and sat out the rest of the season.
- LSU owes Ole Miss $1 million in contract buyout fees after recruiting 2 players in recent weeks. Ole Miss, with an unexpected hole in their roster and $ in their pocket, convinced a player who had just transferred from Cal to Clemson in early January to transfer for the 2nd time in 2 weeks.