Adam Breneman helped ‘save’ Penn State football. Now he wants to be the face of the college game.
The former tight end saw his career ruined by knee injuries. But Breneman has reinvented himself, producing a popular podcast that has drawn the attention of major college coaches.
Bill O’Brien told Adam Breneman in 2013 that he would be remembered as a legend at Penn State if he joined the Nittany Lions just as the football program was being sanctioned following the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
“He didn’t lie,” Breneman said of the former Penn State coach.
Breneman, a 30-year-old who now lives in Northern Liberties, was a celebrity on campus before he moved into his dorm. The teetering football program received new life with the arrival of the tight end and Christian Hackenberg, two five-star recruits who could have gone anywhere. They were credited with helping to “save” the program.
“We were the most popular players on the team and we hadn’t even played a down yet,” Breneman said.
It was perfect. But then Breneman, who grew up near Harrisburg, played just 10 games in his first three seasons and missed the 2014 campaign altogether. Chronic knee issues forced him to retire at 20 in 2016.
“When I left Penn State I had a sour taste in my mouth about my career,” Breneman said. “I never reached my potential. I was a five-star recruit who went to my hometown school and never really made a huge impact.”
Breneman channeled that disappointment into a return to football. He transferred to UMass, became a two-time All-American tight end, and prepared for the NFL draft before his knee flared up and forced him to retire again. Crushed, Breneman rallied and became a graduate assistant at Arizona State. He was the youngest coach in the country and a popular name in coaching circles before an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations led to the dismissal of the entire coaching staff.
Again, Breneman had to find a new chapter.
“I have an internal belief that people have an ability to will things to happen,” Breneman said. “I always prided myself on being able to just figure it out. Like, ‘Figure it out. There’s a way to make it happen.’ Humans are powerful. You have an ability to will things to happen. I have the ability to control my own destiny. You always hear in football, ‘We control our own destiny.’ I’d argue that you control your own destiny every day of your life.”
Breneman never dreamed of being a broadcaster, but he did enjoy fulfilling his media obligations during his playing career. So he started making TikTok videos about Penn State and college football. Suddenly, they gained traction. He started broadcasting games for CBS, landed some branding deals, launched a podcast, and started a company focused on raising NIL money for student athletes.
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This — a former All-American tight end turned content creator — became his next chapter.
“I want to be the face of college football,” Breneman said. “I want to be one of the biggest content creators. I want my podcast to be one of the biggest interview shows in the world. But I also love the journey of it. I love waking up every day trying to get to that point. Even more so than I’ll probably love it if I get there. I love the journey and the process of trying to become one of the biggest voices in sports, more so that I care about actually becoming the biggest voice in sports.”
Next up
Breneman was courted by nearly every program in the country as a high schooler, but he had to beg coaches to sit down with him after he started his podcast in March 2022. Three years later, coaches are asking him to be interviewed for Next Up With Adam Breneman.
“It’s flipped a little bit,” Breneman said. “It helps the coaches and helps the teams. It’s all branding for these programs. Brands win championships and a great way to brand their program is to talk to me for an hour about their career and open up a little bit, show the recruits, the players, and the fans a new side of their personality. I think it humanizes the head coaches a little bit.”
Breneman’s TikTok channel has 225,000 followers as his social-media presence has become a platform for college programs to reach audiences.
He traveled to Syracuse last month to interview coach Fran Brown, sat down in Happy Valley with James Franklin, and went to Oregon to meet Dan Lanning. His first big interview was a revealing conversation with Hackenberg, who now works for Breneman’s College Sports Company. The former Penn State recruits sat together last summer to interview O’Brien, their old Penn State coach who is now the head coach at Boston College.
“I don’t know if anyone else is having the types of in-depth conversations with the coaches and big names in college football that I’m having,” Breneman said.
The next chapter
Breneman caught 12 touchdown passes in his two seasons at UMass and led all tight ends in receptions. Finally, he was the player he was supposed to be. But the knee issues he dealt with at Penn State never went away. He flew across the country to meet with top doctors, but there was nothing to be done as the cartilage in his knee was wearing away. Breneman retired a month before the 2018 NFL draft.
“I was so close to making millions of dollars in the NFL and then I couldn’t play anymore,” Breneman said. “The toughest part was how close you are to living your dream and also all the people around you. I wanted my friends and family to experience what it would be like for me to play in the NFL for a long time. That never got to happen. It was emotionally draining. It was difficult. It was one of the lowest moments in my life. But to be honest, it motivated me into the next phase where I knew I wanted to be successful. I knew I had the ability to do great things.”
Eventually, Breneman found his next chapter. Now, if the former football star gets recognized in public, it’s by people who watch his podcast. Unless he’s back at Penn State.
“Still to this day, I’ll walk around campus and people will say, ‘Hey, Adam, thanks for what you did for Penn State,’” Breneman said. “It’s a cool thing to see. I think we changed the trajectory of that program. I know I played a very small part, but I’m proud of it. Of everything I’ve done in my life, that’s what I’m the most proud of.”