Penn State set to host former Louisana Tech defensive tackle David Blay this weekend
Penn State has locked in another visit for a key transfer portal target. As Blue White Illustrated confirmed earlier this week, Louisana Tech defensive tackle David Blay is set to be on campus this upcoming weekend, Dec. 14-15.
A native of Levittown, Pa., Blay played at Harry S. Truman High School outside of Philadelphia before going to West Chester to play at the Division II level in 2021 and 2022. After redshirting his first season, the 6-foot-4, 304-pound interior defensive lineman totaled 13 tackles for loss and five sacks in 11 games for the Rams as a redshirt freshman.
Blay then entered the transfer portal ahead of the 2023 season and landed at Louisana Tech. He appeared in 10 games as a redshirt sophomore in 2023, registering 16 tackles. But it was this past season, 2024, that Blay became one of the conference’s top players, finishing with 46 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. He also had a very strong performance against Arkansas on Nov. 23, finishing with five tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. He finished the season as a first-team All-Conference USA selection.
Link: Penn State safety KJ Winston Jr., declares for 2025 NFL Draft
Since entering the portal, Blay has also claimed offers from a host of Power Four programs, including Arkansas, Florida State, Illinois, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, USC and Wisconsin. ESPN’s Max Olson posted on Thursday that he’s currently visiting Illinois and is expected to also see USC and Oklahoma. On3 currently rates Blay as the ninth-best defensive tackle available in the portal as of Dec. 12.
As On3 reported earlier this week, Blay is expected to be one of two defensive tackles that visit Penn State this upcoming weekend, as former USC defensive lineman Bear Alexander is also expected on campus. Ironically, he just visited PSU’s first-round opponent in the College Football Playoff, SMU, and is expected to go to Oregon as well at some point. The Nittany Lions are also planning to host former FIU wide receiver Eric Winters next week, Dec. 19-20.
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Lions hoping to be aggressive in Transfer Portal
The college football transfer portal officially opened for undergraduates this past Monday, Dec. 9. Penn State is one of 12 schools dealing with it while also chasing a College Football Playoff title. Because of what is still on the line, the Nittany Lions are not expected to lose many players immediately. Some are already moving on, while others could declare in the days ahead.
Either way, Penn State head coach James Franklin and his staff will be looking to add to their 2025 roster.
“We’re moving, and I’m pushing my staff to be very aggressive,” Franklin said last Sunday. “The challenge that I don’t think a lot of people think about is, typically, when your season ends, and you’re in that time getting ready for a bowl game, you have time to sit down with all of your players and find out what’s going on, who’s coming back, who’s considering going into the transfer portal, who is going into the transfer portal. And a lot of those things impact your decision-making on who you’re going to try to go out and get to replace those guys with.
“So it’s hard to come up with a plan. We’ll do that this week. But we’re probably a week behind other programs. I didn’t really want to be having those conversations last week when we were getting ready for Oregon. So, that’s a little bit of a challenge. It’s hard to totally know what you want to do in the portal until you know exactly what’s going on with your current roster for next year. But I’ve asked our staff to be aggressive and move and make some decisions in positions that we think we’re going to have some needs. So, we’ll have a better idea this week.”
