Penn State transfer portal needs expand with Sam Sessoms exit: Analysis

Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry wanted to allow for a moment of exhalation. 

His first season with the program, Penn State’s season came to a close Friday night with a 69-61 loss to Purdue. A surprising quarterfinals run in the Big Ten Tournament, the loss completed a 14-17 overall record.

Asked to address outstanding personnel questions ahead of what’s sure to be another busy offseason for the program, though, Shrewsberry said some were still to be determined.

“Everybody needs a minute to kind of get away from each other I think at the end of the year. You spend so much time with each other every day,” Shrewsberry said. “We’ll get together and have more in-depth meetings with everything in terms of what those guys want to do with their futures. But we haven’t had those discussions yet. It’s been more team stuff, more general. And we’ll get into that here in the next couple of weeks.”

First portal entry arrives

Wednesday afternoon, the first domino in that process fell.

Penn State senior guard Sam Sessoms entered the NCAA transfer portal with one bonus year of eligibility remaining. Having just completed his fourth year of participation, Sessoms averaged 11.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 27.6 minutes per game.

In it, Sessoms’ role evolved for Penn State.

Starting at point guard for the first eight games, Sessoms largely maintained his minutes but came off the bench for 21 of the final 23 outings. 

Crediting Sessoms and fellow senior Myles Dread for their flexibility both in starting and coming off the bench, Shrewsberry acknowledged the value of their selflessness. 

“When you have guys like that that are unselfish like that, they were doing just what I thought was best for the team,” Shrewsberry said. “Everybody wants a different role. I don’t know if there’s… a basketball player at any level that’s happy with the role that he’s playing. And everybody wants more. 

“But those guys unselfishly started some, didn’t start some, played a bunch of minutes, didn’t play a bunch of minutes. And the way they conducted themselves, the way they went about the season in that way was key to us in terms of how we handled things. They were professional. They were mature for how they handled their roles.”

Portal movement and approach

The move for Sessoms means a second scholarship is now available for Penn State this offseason.

And while Shrewsberry has often stressed his priority on building the program through traditional high school recruiting, the transfer portal will again be an option. As opposed to his first few months in the program in which Penn State landed Greg Lee, Jaheam Cornwall, Jevonnie Scott, Jalanni White, and Jalen Pickett through the portal, the broad reliance on it isn’t expected to remain.

Set to welcome Jameel Brown, Kanye Clary, Demetrius Lilley, Evan Mahaffey, and Kebba Njie in the five-man Penn State Class of 2022, Shrewsberry and his staff will instead look to complement its newcomers and returning contributors. 

“You look at the transfer portal, hopefully this season and into the future, you do it kind of need-based,” Shrewsberry said. “Who we have and who we build around will always be the guys that we spend the majority of our time and efforts recruiting. We have five freshmen coming in that we recruited those guys. I know everything about those guys. There might be a couple of surprises here and there, but for the most part, I know a lot about them. 

“The transfer portal is a little bit different because it’s like speed dating. So you may get a guy and you don’t know everything about him. You don’t know their makeup, you don’t know exactly how tick, you don’t get a chance to spend as much time with them. So it’s a gamble whether or not you try and build around that every single year. There could be issues that you run into. So we want to do it on a need basis, to fill spots that we may need.”

Penn State’s next steps

Given Penn State’s roster makeup, as it stands today, those two needs are now most pressing at forward and scoring guard. 

With Jalen Pickett returning for a super senior season, complemented by the expected returns of starters Dallion Johnson and Seth Lundy, with Dread possibly taking advantage of an available super senior year, Penn State is in dire need of experienced forwards. End-of-the-bench contributors Jevonnie Scott and Caleb Dorsey currently represent the Nittany Lions’ biggest returning players at 6-foot-7 apiece. 

Added to that need, Sessoms’ absence marks an opportunity for a veteran scorer to join the program. Shrewsberry hopes the environment will foster the unrushed development of the large true freshman class. As a result, Penn State’s approach to the portal will be purposeful. 

“For next year’s team, we do want to add a couple of older guys… so we don’t have to lean on those freshmen to be primetime players right off the bat, which is hard to do as a college freshman. No matter how good you are, freshmen struggle a little bit and freshmen struggle at times,” Shrewsberry said. “We just want some guys with them that can relieve that pressure so they can grow on their own timeline. I think similar to how you saw Dallion used year. He grew into becoming a more prominent player for us. 

“That’s what our hope is for these freshmen. I hope they’re ready right away and they come in and take the reins and do it themselves. But we want to make sure we have the help that they need right away.”