Heading into Saturday afternoon, the Ohio State football team wanted to crush Penn State. It was more about revenge against Jim Knowles than anything else, and the Buckeyes were able to win the game 38-14. Knowles did take a key recruit that Ohio State was hoping to get with him.
Four-star defensive end Chaz Coleman picked Penn State over the Ohio State Buckeyes last winter. He's a Warren, Ohio, native, and the Buckeyes think they can sway him to come back to Columbus. So far this season with the Nittany Lions, he has seven tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries.
With James Franklin having been fired, there will likely be a mass exodus of players in the Transfer Portal. The Buckeyes are hoping Coleman is going to be one of them, and it looked like he was getting chummy with some Buckeyes after the game on Saturday.
The Ohio State football team might have a good chance of extracting Chaz Coleman from the Transfer Portal
After the game ended, Coleman was spotted talking to some Ohio State players. It got to the point that Penn State staffers came over to try to break it up, even though he was just talking to an usher.
Defensive end Chaz Coleman with a long solo walk off The Shoe after a solid showing.
— Chase Fisher (@chase_fisher4) November 1, 2025
One of the players Penn State wants to retain. Had a word with an Ohio State staff member before he entered the tunnel. pic.twitter.com/ggaW0lK6RK
Penn State fans can't feel good about that interaction. He has already proven that he can wreak havoc on opposing offenses as a freshman, so the Nittany Lions are going to try to do everything they can to keep him, as well as several other players on their roster.
Without Franklin still leading the program, teams are going to be circling Nittany Lion players in the transfer portal when the season ends. Ohio State is certainly going to be one of those programs looking around at some players. Coleman is going to be one of the first players they make a call to, if he's in the portal.
Will there be some tampering by the Buckeyes? Who can say? In this era of NIL and the portal, it's clear that lines are gray when it comes to those rules. Multiple other programs tried to get Jeremiah Smith to transfer last offseason, so all is fair.