Penn State Lands Former Miami (OH) Wing Brant Byers
· Yahoo Sports
It’s been a rough offseason for the Nittany Lions so far. There’s been the departures of a number of players, most notably freshman guard Kayden Mingo. There’s been the departures on the coaching staff, with longtime Mike Rhoades assistant Jamal Brunt leaving for Syracuse. Finally though, there is some good news for Penn State basketball as it landed Miami-Ohio transfer wing Brant Byers.
A 6-foot-8 wing originally from Chambersburg, PA, Byers spent the last two seasons at Miami. He was the second-leading scoring for the RedHawks this past season, helping the school to a 32-2 record that included a win over SMU in the First Four games of the NCAA tournament.
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I’ll be honest with you guys, I saw that Byers entered the portal and knew the PA connection, but I am quite stunned he’s making his way to Penn State. I would have thought he was someone who would go to a school like UVA or Clemson or Wisconsin or Vanderbilt — tried-and-true tournament teams. I mean, there just aren’t many kids with Byers size who shoot as well as he shoots. Across his two seasons at Miami, he averaged 4.5 three-point attempts per game, making 40.1% of them. That’s an *elite* rate. Toss in that he displayed some real off the dribble chops as a sophomore — getting to the free throw line 4.8 times per game in 2025-26 — and I have no doubt Byers is turning down much more successful programs.
My guess is that Byers sees a bigger opportunity here to be a hub of the offense like he was at Miami. Not to say he was the focal point — the RedHawks top seven scorers averaged between 14.8 PPG and 9.8 PPG — but he’ll undoubtedly see more of the ball at Penn State than he would at some of the Top 25 schools that were after him.