DT
Junior (Transferred from Utah)
Utah transfer with verified defensive tackle experience. Vakalahi gives Penn State a large interior body with 2024-25 game production, but his exact 2026 role should be framed as rotation competition until the staff shows the front-line order.
Dallas Vakalahi is one of Penn State's most important interior defensive line transfers because he brings size, age, and Big 12 experience into a room that needed more playable bodies. Penn State lists him as a 6-foot-2, 337-pound junior from West Valley, Utah, with Utah as his previous school.
His Utah record gives the profile a firmer base than a normal projection. Penn State's official bio credits him with nine games and two starts in 2025, plus 11 tackles. In 2024, he appeared in nine games, made three starts, and produced 16 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks.
For the 2026 depth chart, Vakalahi should be treated as a rotation candidate on the interior, not an automatic anchor. His size and experience matter, but Penn State still has to determine how he fits next to returning tackles and other transfers in D'Anton Lynn's defensive structure.