James Peoples left the Ohio State Buckeyes for the most obvious of reasons any player leaves a blue-blood College Football program: the opportunity to be featured more en route to a potential NFL career.
Peoples told reporters last week his motivations for committing to the Penn State Nittany Lions via the transfer portal. Per Peoples, “Things that were really on my bucket list, was a place where I can continue to grow, where I have a coach and team that’s willing to take me in and let me be an impactful player, and fight for a national championship. This place (Penn State) has all of that.”
First-year Penn State RB coach Savon Huggins believes Peoples is on his way to those goals, saying, “I’ve seen (Peoples) start to get more comfortable being around his teammates and just, what he does off the field, you’re starting to see it come on the field. I’m very encouraged with where he started to where he’s at right now.”
Peoples won't get the chance to show he is RB1 material as he and the rest of the Nittany Lions take the field at Beaver Stadium for the 2026 Blue-White spring football practice this coming Saturday. The game won't be an intrasquad scrimmage format.
James Peoples one of many elements that make Penn State's 2026 season tough to define
While oddsmakers are pretty high on Penn State in 2026, it's tough to tell exactly what the product will be. First-year head coach Matt Campbell is importing many elements of his Iowa State Cyclones program, including quarterback Rocco Becht.
Peoples and his ceiling will be one of the many storylines that will determine if the Nittany Lions are truly ready to move on from the up-and-down James Franklin era, or if questions about whether or not Franklin was properly replaced will persist.
If it all works out, it's unclear how high Campbell's squad can climb. If there are any issues, though, it feels likelier that seven or eight wins is Penn State's ceiling.
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