Penn State hopes the addition of Eric Wilson as a grad transfer will help rebuild the depth on the interior offensive line for 2021.
                                 Harvard Athletics

Penn State hopes the addition of Eric Wilson as a grad transfer will help rebuild the depth on the interior offensive line for 2021.

Harvard Athletics

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<p>Penn State will have to replace a pair of multi-year starters on the offensive line in Michal Menet (62) and Will Fries (71) this year.</p>
                                 <p>Adam Hunger | AP file photo</p>

Penn State will have to replace a pair of multi-year starters on the offensive line in Michal Menet (62) and Will Fries (71) this year.

Adam Hunger | AP file photo

Penn State’s newest offensive lineman won’t be able to arrive in Happy Valley until next semester.

Eric Wilson still has the pesky task of earning his Harvard degree first.

It has been a difficult stretch for Wilson, who has dealt with plenty of football-related uncertainty. But he has made up his mind to finish his college career with the Nittany Lions next season.

“A lot can happen in a few months, especially in 2020,” Wilson wrote Wednesday on Twitter. “Unexpected changes have led me to commit to Penn State where I will play for the Nittany Lions as a grad transfer next year. Looking forward to getting to Happy Valley and working with (offensive line coach Phil Trautwein).”

Wilson entered 2020 as a preseason FCS All-American for the Crimson. But his senior year never happened as the Ivy League canceled the fall season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still with a year of eligibility left, Wilson entered the transfer portal and received interest from multiple major programs. And his original choice would have landed him at Beaver Stadium this fall — on the visitors sideline.

Initially Wilson had committed to transfer to Auburn, which plays at Penn State on Sept. 18. But shortly after making that decision public, the Tigers fired coach Gus Malzahn and Wilson reopened his recruitment.

Penn State will be the beneficiary, landing the Minnesota native, who was a second-team All-Ivy selection as a junior in 2019.

Listed at 6-foot-4, 315 pounds, Wilson will push for a starting job on a Lions offensive line that loses multi-year starters in center Michal Menet and Will Fries, who split time between guard and tackle last fall. Penn State is also losing one-time starter C.J. Thorpe, who is seeking a transfer of his own to play defense at a new school.

That leaves veteran Mike Miranda as the lone returning starter on the interior, where he could end up at guard or center. With Thorpe missing for the final stretch of games, Juice Scruggs got more reps, and he too will be in the mix to start along with returning upperclassmen like Des Holmes and Anthony Whigan.

Penn State is set to return both starting tackles from the end of the season in Rasheed Walker and Caedan Wallace.

Wednesday’s announcement continues the Lions’ new aggressive policy toward the transfer portal, as Wilson will become the fifth scholarship player to transfer into the program.

The first four — CB Johnny Dixon (South Carolina), DE Arnold Ebiketie (Temple), RB John Lovett (Baylor) and DT Derrick Tangelo (Duke) — have already enrolled at Penn State and are going through winter workouts. Two other transfers also joined the roster as walk-ons in wideout Winston Eubanks and punter Barney Amor.

On the other side of the portal, Penn State has had five scholarship players enter so far. Quarterback Micah Bowens (Oklahoma) and defensive tackles Antonio Shelton (Florida) and Judge Culpepper (Toledo) have already found new homes while Thorpe and receiver TJ Jones consider their options.

Rebuilding depth on the fly will be key for Penn State to bounce back from a 4-5 showing last year, the program’s first losing season since 2004.

Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour said Tuesday she expects that the Lions will be able to hold their usual allotment of 15 spring practices this year after having all of them wiped out by the pandemic in 2020.

COVID-19 cases in the athletic department as a whole were up in the latest numbers released by the school on Wednesday. A total of 37 positives were recorded out of 1,994 tests of players across all sports from Jan. 16-22.

The spike coincides with the return of non-athletes to campus last week. Penn State is not holding any in-person classes until Feb. 15.

Barbour revealed Tuesday that the football team had only one positive test during the entirety of the 2020 season.