It’s been a good month on the rebuilding front for Penn State basketball so far. Coaching changes always bring roster turnover, especially in the transfer era of today. The Nittany Lions were already facing a major overhaul with the number of seniors graduating but were dealt a big blow with their incoming freshman NLI releases and current players hitting the portal.
New coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] is looking to field his roster by hitting the transfer portal.
Prior to landing his former guard at VCU, [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag], Penn State only had two players on scholarship entering the 2023-24 season. It seemed like a foregone conclusion Rhoades would be targeting the VCU players who he recruited and had major success within the Atlantic-10 conference.
Besides Baldwin, two other former VCU players have been linked to Penn State with Jalen Deloach visiting State College this weekend. 247Sports released a crystal ball prediction that had Nicholas Kern going to Penn State.
It looks like that prediction has come true, with Kern announcing his commitment to the Nittany Lions on Wednesday.
Thank you for every part of this journey!🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/GWwAAQvecW
— Nick Kern (@TheBigTickettt) April 13, 2023
The 6’6″ forward is a former three-star recruit who was a part of VCU’s 2021 recruiting class with Deloach. Kern started in 19 games last year for VCU while averaging 5.3 points and 2.7 rebounds while shooting 62 percent overall. In his last outing, he scored five points and secured two rebounds in VCU’s Round of 64 loss to Saint Mary’s.
Overall, Kern Jr. has appeared in 66 games in two seasons at VCU under Rhoades. Before he played at VCU he was from St. Louis and was a highly sought-after prospect with offers from DePaul, Saint Louis, and TCU as the notable schools looking at him. He was the No. 32 small forward in the 2021 class and the No. 3 recruit in Missouri, according to 247Sports.
In high school out of Missouri, Kern was the player of the year as a senior after leading Vashon to a state championship with 18.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. While he hasn’t been able to provide the same type of production in the college game, he has grown in other areas.
The numbers are not eyepopping, but this is a good get for Rhoades as he starts building up a program to try and compete this upcoming season. Kern is now the second player landed through the transfer portal and it’s clear the team will be up of a majority of transfer players if Rhoades can’t convince players from last year to return.
Penn State had a successful season last year by getting impact players through the portal, so they’ve proven they can compete by fielding a roster that way.
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