Reports of the demise of Khairi Fortt's Penn State career appear to be greatly exaggerated...for now.
The father of the Penn State junior linebacker, Guy Fortt, has told ESPN's Joe Schad that his son is still deciding between the continuation of his college football career at Penn State or a transfer to the University of California. Sources reported earlier in the day that the younger Fortt had already decided to leave Happy Valley for Berkeley.
Cal went 7-6 last year, losing to Texas in the Holiday Bowl, and is fairly short on experience at linebacker. The top six linebackers on the Cal depth chart coming out of spring practice included two seniors (Robert Mullins and J.P. Hurrell), a junior, two sophomores and a freshman. There would certainly be room for an experienced linebacker like Fortt, who has played in 23 games in his first two years at Penn State and finished the 2011 season with 33 tackles, six tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks.
Under the terms of the NCAA's sanctions against Penn State in the wake of the Freeh Report - sanctions that include a four-year bowl ban and loss of scholarships - any current or incoming Penn State player is free to transfer to another school with immediate eligibility. Redshirt freshman safety Tim Buckley became the first player to avail himself of that option on Monday, transferring to North Carolina State in his hometown of Raleigh, while transfer rumors have swirled around several other players, including quarterback Rob Bolden (LSU), tight end Kevin Haplea (Florida State), kicker Anthony Fera (Texas) and, most notably, running back Silas Redd, who is expected to make his decision on Tuesday as to whether he will stay at Penn State or transfer to USC, where he visited this past weekend.
According to a post from Schad on his Twitter account (@schadjoe), Fortt and his father will meet with new Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien this week before making a final decision.
