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Another Penn State safety heads to transfer portal as Dejuan Lane departs

nate-mug-10.12.14by: Nate Bauer01/06/26NateBauerBWI

Penn State is sending another safety to the NCAA Transfer Portal. Dejuan Lane, the Nittany Lions’ 6-foot-2, 205-pound sophomore defender out of Maryland, will explore his options ahead of the 2026 season according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

Lane is coming off a second season in the program in which he was a consistent contributor to Penn State’s defense. He played in 12 games, finishing ninth on the team in tackles with 30 despite ranking 14th on the defense in total snaps with 290. Those reps were third among safeties, behind Zakee Wheatley, who virtually never left the field, and King Mack, who tallied 493.

Wheatley exhausted his eligibility and Mack has also entered the transfer portal this offseason. Only Vaboue Toure has not entered the portal at the position with Lane, Mack, Antoine Belgrave-Shorter, Karson Kiesewetter, Kolin Dinkins, and Braz Thomas all exploring their options.

In addition to his tackle total, Lane recorded 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack and one pass breakup. According to Pro Football Focus College, he posted a 71.7 overall grade for the season, good for ninth among Penn State defenders.

After making his mark as a fill-in during the 2024 season, his true freshman campaign, Lane entered Year 2 with heightened expectations from his position coach. Before leaving for Tennessee, safeties coach Anthony Poindexter discussed the battle for reps opposite Wheatley and what Lane was doing to separate himself.

“He’s doing a nice job. For all these guys, man, they just got to be consistent,” Poindexter said. “There’s a day-to-day consistency thing.

“When you’re young, you have your ups, you have your downs. But if they can learn to be consistent, and then do what the defense is asking them to do, they’ll make the plays.”

By the bye week in September, Lane had established himself enough to carve out a split role with Mack and Antoine Belgrave-Shorter in the Penn State secondary.

“Those three, aside from Zakee, are really always in competition. And it’s a week-to-week thing in terms of how they practice and how they perform,” defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “There’s been a lot of improvements since I first got here in communication, which is required by the safeties in this system. So they’re getting better all the time.

“It’s not at where I want it to be yet, but those three guys, they’re just competing week to week and they know that, in terms of who’s going to play the most, who’s going to be the starter. It continues to be an open competition.”

With Wheatley opting out of the Pinstripe Bowl in New York on Dec. 27, Lane stepped into his largest role of the season. Playing 66 snaps, he nearly doubled his previous high in the 22-10 win against Clemson.

From Thomas Frank Carr’s analysis of Penn State’s retention at the safety position on Saturday, when Lane was expected to return to the Nittany Lions in 2026:

“The key cog returning for 2026 is Dejuan Lane. The 6-2, 205-pound safety has elite traits and started putting it together during the Pinstripe Bowl in December. While it’s a one-game sample size, it’s hard not to feel like Lane is finally starting to deliver on that potential heading into his junior season.”

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