Penn State adds top transfer portal target in WR Dante Cephas
Penn State’s pursuit of a top-level transfer receiver has taken several twists and turns over the last six weeks, but one name has remained at or near the top of the list from the start. On Sunday evening, the Nittany Lions got the news from Kent State star Dante Cephas. He plans to finish his college career in Happy Valley.
Cephas will remain at Kent State for the spring semester to finish his undergraduate degree before transferring to University Park in the summer.
He visited Pittsburgh and UCLA in December and he added a number of offers from programs after entering the portal on Dec. 5. Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Miami, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and West Virginia were among his other suitors.
Background on Penn State’s newest Portal addition
Originally from Penn Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Cephas, arrived at Kent State as a three-star prospect according to the On3 Consensus rankings in the Class of 2019. He was a high school teammate of current Nittany Lions Daequan Hardy and Tank Smith and won a state title with his team as a senior. Both players hosted Cephas on his official visit in early December.
“It was good, I got to go back — I went to go there in high school a lot,” Cephas told On3 in December. “Watch the games a lot. It was good, got to see all the new facilities they got. Brought back old memories I had.”
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Across his four seasons with the Golden Flashes, Cephas racked up 145 receptions for 2,139 yards and 12 touchdown catches. He averaged 14.8 yards per catch and helped Kent State reach the MAC title game a year ago. He’s hoping that his next stop can put him on a bigger stage in front of NFL scouts.
“NFL development is most important to me because that’s where everybody wants to ultimately go,” he told On3 in December. “You don’t want to land there and struggle. I think that will be key for me, making sure when I get there I’m already rolling and have the confidence.”
Nittany Lions hoping to add multiple receivers in the Portal
Penn State is hoping to add two receivers to the room ahead of the 2023 season, former assistant coach Taylor Stubblefield said on National Signing Day.
“We plan on taking two,” Stubblefield said. “We took essentially five freshmen receivers last year. You have Parker going to the Draft. You have Mitch that we’re losing. So, we got a lot of young guys. We signed one in this class intentionally. We could have had multiple guys committed that are committed to some other schools right now, we could have had them committed in the summer, [but] we just didn’t think that they were right for us.
“So we feel like our best way to satisfy what our need is, which is probably a little bit of some older guys, is possibly going to the transfer portal and seeing who could help us win.”
Link: Penn State parts ways with assistant Taylor Stubblefield
