KeAndre Lambert-Smith was targeted just once. Dante Cephas didn’t play. Drew Allar hadn’t completed a pass to a wide receiver until the fourth quarter of Penn State’s 38-25 loss to Ole Miss in last season’s Peach Bowl. Rock bottom had officially hit for a position group that had, just two years before, produced a first-round NFL Draft selection.
It’s been a long road since the days of Jahan Dotson. Lambert-Smith and Cephas departed, Julian Fleming transferred from Ohio State and wide receiver still remained the Nittany Lions’ greatest question mark entering the fall. A 20-13 loss to Ohio State — a game in which wide receivers accounted for just three receptions — didn’t help settle the noise.
But they were haunted, for better or for worse, by the way last season made them feel.
Penn State’s wide receivers weren’t going to let their underwhelming performance against the Buckeyes define them. They, as well as James Franklin, believe they’ve made great strides over the course of this year. A test against a sturdy Notre Dame secondary in the Orange Bowl is likely to prove whether that’s truly the case.
“I think the development of our wide receiver room is something that I don’t think has been talked about enough. That has turned into a strength,” Franklin said on Saturday. “… Those wide receivers in that room have done a really good job of making plays at critical times, being explosive. I think they are getting better.”
Fleming’s statistics showcase an uninspiring senior year. But his two fourth-down receptions at USC were instrumental in keeping Penn State alive in a 33-30 win. There is likely no College Football Playoff without Fleming.
And there may not be a semifinal appearance without difficult catches by Omari Evans, who hauled in a touchdown in the first quarter and a leaping grab that set up a field goal in the second quarter of a 31-14 win over Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Evans’ emergence has been significant. As has the consistency of leading wide receiver Harrison Wallace III.
Wallace’s stats may not pop out on a weekly basis, but he’s blossomed into a reliable threat for quarterback Drew Allar in nearly every contest this season. Wallace and Evans were in Atlanta as the Peach Bowl put on full display the disconnect between Allar and his wide receivers. Evans remembers “everybody saying that we suck,” and has used the negativity as motivation.
“I think we improved a lot, knowing how we were getting talked about last year after that game. I don’t think people can say those things about us anymore. We definitely got a lot better,” Evans said. “We took that and we worked. We worked all year for it, where you got to talk positive about us, which I think is paying off.”
The notable improvements from Evans and Wallace, however, haven’t stopped Franklin and wide receivers coach Marques Hagans from adding to the position.
The Nittany Lions signed four receivers — Matthew Outten, Lyrick Samuel, Jeff Exinor and Koby Howard — as part of their 2025 recruiting class. And two of the team’s first three transfers this cycle play the position — Kyron Hudson, formerly of USC, and ex-Troy Trojan Devonte Ross — are set to join the mix this offseason.
“It’s exciting because we are adding more pieces to that room. But we feel like the foundation is finally in a place where we can win at the highest level, and it’s only going to get better,” Franklin said. “And those guys, they have got more games this season, and they have got more games in their future and I think you’re going to see a bunch of draft choices come out of that room. I think there’s going to be some surprises this year, as well.”
Fleming is the only logical choice for a Penn State wide receiver to be selected in the upcoming draft. He’s out of eligibility after a five-year college career that hardly lived up to the expectations set for him as a consensus five-star recruit, ranked by 247Sports as the No. 4 overall player in the 2020 class.
A quick glance at Fleming’s stats this year could raise some eyebrows at calls for his draftability: 14 receptions, 176 receiving yards and one touchdown. But Franklin hopes the football world can step back and appreciate the entire body of work that he believes Fleming and his wide receiver corps have shown on film this year.
“I get it, they are not gaudy numbers, but you watch how Julian is blocking. Where are the explosive plays coming from? The receivers owning all of the responsibilities of being true wide receivers,” Franklin said. “Some of these guys may have gaudy numbers in terms of catching, but their run game blocking and things like that is disgusting and NFL people watch that and they see that.”
