Heading into today, Penn State had already seen seven scholarship players — WR Juwan Johnson, WR Brandon Polk, OT Sterling Jenkins, LB Dae’lun Darien, LB Brelin Faison-Walden, DB Lamont Wade, and CB Zech McPhearson — enter the NCAA transfer portal. Now, you can add three more to that list with redshirt senior defensive back Ayron Monroe announcing his transfer on Twitter, and Lions247 reporting that redshirt juniors Alex Gellerstedt and Danny Dalton are also in the portal.
— ~~╭∩╮(︶︿︶) ╭∩╮~~ (@ay_ronnyron) January 15, 2019
Monroe was expected to challenge for the starting safety spot along with redshirt sophomore Jonathan Sutherland, incoming JUCO Jaquan Brisker, and the also-seeking-transfer Lamont Wade, but all in all, his decision to leave Penn State isn’t all that surprising given were he probably fell on that pecking order.
Gellerstedt and Dalton looking at their options also isn’t too surprising given where they are at on the depth chart. Gellerstedt was passed up by rising redshirt freshman Rasheed Walker, while Dalton sits behind Pat Freiermuth and Nick Bowers.
Still, Penn State seeing this amount of turnover is a little bizarre. Sure, outside of Juwan Johnson and perhaps Lamont Wade (who still could come back!), the majority of these guys weren’t going to be starting, but seeing 10 transfers before spring practice even starts is an extraordinarily high number — especially given that Penn State sits at just 74 scholarship players currently, well below the 85-limit threshold.