Julian Fleming will play for Penn State.
At least back in 2019, that was every Penn State fan’s thought. After all, he was the heir-apparent to follow up Micah Parsons as the next sure-thing Pennsylvania son to come to play for the premier university in the Keystone State.
Of course, he’d play for Penn State. Why wouldn’t he play for Penn State?
And the phrase “Julian Fleming will play for Penn State” still holds true. Except for the one little wrinkle where Fleming actually started his career at Ohio State.
That, though, is the beauty of the transfer portal.
After Fleming pledged his commitment to come to Penn State for the 2024 season, the two-time-highly-sought-after wide receiver is just another reminder of how the transfer portal isn’t just here to stay; It’s here to make college football a lot more fun.
Sure, the portal is a headache for coaches. Just look at what James Franklin has had on his plate since the season ended the day after Thanksgiving. On top of the portal opening in early December, there was the search and hiring of offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. There was the likely and then certain departure of his defensive coordinator in Manny Diaz for Duke. Franklin would follow that up with the hiring of former Indiana head coach Tom Allen for the vacant DC spot. Plus, he’d signed a 25-member 2024 recruiting class on Wednesday while managing conversations around NFL futures and portal plans for players already on his roster.
Oh, and yeah, there was a game with Ole Miss to strategize and play in between there as well. Chaos is everywhere.
But Franklin’s not alone. This is college football. It is chaos. Every other coach right now in the nation has to be handling at least some of that stuff, too. That’s why most of them are paid handsomely for their career choice, too.
Coaches will decry the portal and the madness of it all, but for fans, it now gives meaning or at least something to talk about for the weirdos who like spending way too much time on the message boards (myself included). It creates fodder in a time where there was none. It creates excitement way too early for next season – even if 2023’s last chapter is yet to be written.
The portal, simply put, is a good thing for the mad, silly, goofy and fun world of college football.
Of course, there are some serious implications too. It allows for players to make more money via NIL deals or just get one more crack at a decent chunk of playing time somewhere else.
And it even allows once outcasted star wide receivers to come back to the state they’re from to play football.
Even in the twists and turns of Fleming’s re-recruitment, there was a sense it may not actually happen. After the wide receiver who caught 26 passes for 270 yards in 2023 entered the portal, early indications suggested some semblance of a chance Fleming could return to Pennsylvania where he played high school football at Southern Columbia in Catawissa. But Nebraska was calling, maybe even as a packaged deal with Fleming’s Buckeye quarterback Kyle McCord.
Fleming said “no” though, and it’s now clear that the wide receiver is coming home while the quarterback heads to up-state New York.
Fortunately for Penn State fans, it’s at a time when the wide receiver position needs the most help. The arrival comes after five-star quarterback Drew Allar’s first year as a starter, where he looked comfortable – when he could find a wide receiver open or one on the same page. Allar’s 25 touchdowns and two interception was quite impressive.
Zoom out, though, and Penn State’s offense ranked 93rd in the country in passing yards. Failures in the passing game, particularly against Fleming’s now-previous school and then again against Michigan, got offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich fired.
It also left many wondering who and how Penn State would find talent to support Allar, the quarterback that some look at as the one to guide Penn State to the promised land.
Of course, if you bought into the hype – which yes, even I did – a stud transfer in Dante Cephas was supposed to provide that support this season via the portal. Aside from one game against Maryland, he did not. And now he’s in the transfer portal as well. There were also injuries to Harrison Wallace and maybe wrongly-decided playing time decisions for Omari Evans, too, that limited Allar’s first season.
But even if Fleming doesn’t live up to the hype of his much followed recruitment, it’s still, well, cool that he can come back and play right away. Without the chaos agent of the transfer portal, it could have never happened.
After all, this is what clichéd feel-good sports stories are all about. Detested nemesis steals home(state)town star but he returns when he’s needed most. Now in reality, it’s more than just that. But it was the portal that at least allows for any and all of that to happen.
It never made any sense to me – or a lot of other people – why student-athletes had to sit out a season. Transfers used to mean less. Now in the portal era, they can play immediately and could make an impact immediately.
Does the portal have problems? Yes, especially when it comes to tampering – or at least that’s what the coaches tell us. But it’s still relatively new for a sport that’s been played since Ulysses S. Grant was in the Oval Office. I don’t think Rutgers was running the shotgun when it beat Princeton back then, either. And besides, that’s what lawyers’ retainers are for. As a fan even if it is chaotic, it’s your job to embrace the good. And there’s plenty of it out there.
Just look at Penn State’s success with Chop Robinson, Mitchell Tinsley and even Alex Felkins. I’ll even throw punters Barney Amor and Riley Thompson in there too. All of them wouldn’t have an elevated spotlight without the portal.
Now it may be time for Fleming’s chance at the spotlight just like those others. And even if it doesn’t work out, it’s still a great story, right now. College football is better for it.
When the chaos settles though, Fleming gets to put on a blue and white uniform, not scarlet and gray anymore – and could, emphasis on could, make an impact right away.
It’s a chaotic end that brings light to the thought that after all, Julian Fleming will play for Penn State.
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