Penn State adds second transfer portal piece of offseason, VCU wing Nick Kern
Penn State basketball head coach Mike Rhoades has landed another transfer portal addition. And, like his first with the Nittany Lions, Ace Baldwin, this one is again coming from his last stop at VCU.
Announcing his decision via Twitter late Wednesday evening, Nick Kern, a 6-6, 190-pound wing who just completed his second season with the Rams, is joining the Nittany Lions.
“Thank you for every part of this journey!” Kern wrote in a Tweet.
One of Baldwin’s teammates at VCU for the past two seasons, Kern saw his role grow through the course of his sophomore campaign. Coming off the bench for the first half of the season, he started the final 19 games as the Rams plowed through the A10.
In the process, he put up 5.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game while connecting on 62.0 percent of his shots. He’s a slashing wing who scores at the rim.
Kern is expected to join Baldwin this weekend, as well as former teammate Jalen DeLoach, for a visit to Penn State. They’ll also be joined by Virginia Tech transfer Darius Maddox.
Next steps
Penn State is looking to use Baldwin’s Easter Sunday commitment as a springboard into other portal pickups. And, in Kern, the Nittany Lions landed that desired effect, with optimism for more in short order.
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Still, much work remains in solidifying a roster that has experienced massive turnover since last season.
While Jalen Pickett, Seth Lundy, Andrew Funk, Myles Dread, Camren Wynter, and Mikey Henn moved on, transfer portal entries from Dallion Johnson, Caleb Dorsey, and true freshmen Jameel Brown, Evan Mahaffey, and Kebba Njie are all reversible. The only two scholarship players technically still with the program for next season are point guard Kanye Clary and Demetrius Lilly, also true freshmen.
Three Penn State signees from the Class of 2023 also sought releases from their letters of intent. Those players include Braeden Shrewsberry, Logan Imes, and Penn State legacy and On3 Top 100 forward Carey Booth.
With Baldwin and Kern aboard, then, Penn State has four scholarship players not currently in the transfer portal. Johnson and Dorsey both selected their next destinations, while Brown, Mahaffey and Njie have yet to announce their plans.
