The irony in all of this is that when Penn State finally signed a quarterback of Drew Allar’s recruiting stature there was never really a serious worry that Penn State wouldn’t have the tools to make the most of his growing talents. Allar made mistakes in his own right, but it’s hard not to look back at the season Penn State had and the inconsistencies in the receiver room and wonder what could have been. This is a tough grade, but at the end of the day nothing was more glaring than how good some of Penn State’s opponents were at receiver, and how lacking the Nittany Lions’ productivity was in the passing game. Not all on them, but a bunch of it sure was.
The Grade: D+
The Good: There are a lot of options. That seems to be the best news you can get from this group right now. If we operate under the assumption Penn State is not short on warm bodies that played well enough in high school to get recruited and offered a scholarship, then in theory the answers to this position group’s problems could be on the roster.
Objectively, everyone from KeAndre Lambert-Smith to Omari Evans and Trey Wallace showed flashes of what they’re capable of, so if you’re under the belief it’s only a matter of time until these guys get it figured out, that’s not completely unreasonable. Ohio State transfer Julian Fleming changes the dynamics of this group as well, but he’s also a guy looking to generate consistency after a career in Columbus that didn’t quite pan out as he may have liked. In his defense Ohio State was loaded at receiver so Fleming might only just need a change of scenery to excel. It’s not fun to throw an entire position group under the bus and say “well they’re just not talented” but they’re very much going to need to prove themselves in 2024 if anyone is going to be buying Penn State’s stock. Options can be a good thing, or it can mean nobody is stepping up. Time will tell that story.
The Not So Good: Yikes. The season started off so well with KeAndre Lambert-Smith picking up where he left off last year and then everything slowly turned into a bevy of consistency issues. It’s fair to say Drew Allar missed his fair share of throws and open looks, it’s also fair to say that if this team had Parker Washington, Mitchell Tinsley or Jahan Dotson to name a few, that the passing game would have been better. Allar needed this group to help him out and it did very little on that front.
As for the presumed WR1, KLS went from a hopeful budding star to catching two passes in the final 12 quarters of the season. Trey Wallace also showed signs but couldn’t stay healthy. Dante Cephas had his moments, but really only one good game and struggled enough that James Franklin openly talked about his consistency in public. That issue got so bad that Cephas didn’t even play in the bowl game and subsequently left the program. Liam Clifford was an interesting change of pace but it didn’t appear that he was able to stay on the field as an every-down option. There’s nothing fun about putting down a bunch of ostensibly talented players, but it is what it is. You have to go back to 2004 for the last time Penn State only had one wide receiver in its Top 4 receivers in terms of yardage and receptions by the end of the year. A knock here as well for new receivers coach Marques Hagans – who like James Franklin – openly talked about the consistency issues this room was facing before the season even started and saw those issues arguably get worse by season’s end.
Overall: Penn State was regularly reminded by its opponents that this group was lacking and the Nittany Lions very well could have beaten Ohio State and/or Michigan with a better offensive attack. Those issues came from a few different places but the receivers were at the crux of a lot of it.
See all of the Positional Grades HERE.
