Penn State coach James Franklin reiterated a growing confidence in the Nittany Lions’ receiving corps on Saturday afternoon after the Blue-White game, even in the face of a seemingly imminent departure of 2023 leading receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith, who is reportedly set to enter the transfer portal next week.
Franklin refused to offer a comment on the status of Lambert-Smith, who was listed on Penn State’s official spring scrimmage roster but was not at the game.
“I think like you saw today, a bunch of guys touched the ball and made plays,” Franklin said. “We were able to distribute the football around. I’ve had all the faith in the world in our wide receivers in terms of talent and ability. We got to take the next step and I saw them take a step this spring. We’re going to be taking another step this summer. The positive thing is you can really improve defensively and offensively in the passing game over the summer. It’s hard to do that in the run game. I think we’re going to be very specific on the things we’re working on and how we’re training and developing.
“We have the talent in the room. The reality is we got to take this next step and we got to do it on a consistent basis. And we got to make plays against all the people on our schedule. All those guys are in the locker room for a reason. We have belief in those guys. We believe they’re ready to take the next step. I think Trey (Harrison Wallace III) was a good example today. Him getting hurt last year was was significant. So having a healthy Trey back has helped.”
A spring scrimmage is not the best place to make sweeping declarations but Wallace, Omari Evans, Liam Clifford and Kaden Saunders all showed flashes of what Penn State will hope can become a more regular occurrence. Ohio State transfer Julian Fleming was not an active participant on Saturday but is expected to be a feature in the Nittany Lions’ offense all year long, especially following the loss of Lambert-Smith. For all of his own occasional success, Lambert-Smith himself had a career marred with inconsistent play and production.
Penn State has recruited the receiver position well enough to produce a half-dozen or so talented, NFL-caliber receivers in recent years, so Franklin is not wrong to have faith in an overarching ability to identify, develop and utilize the position properly. If anything, Penn State’s struggles at receiver have been one of the most surprising things of the past 12+ months, given the regular success that the Nittany Lions have had at the position.
Now the question is if this room can put it together on a weekly basis. An unfortunate problem to have, and undoubtedly a frustrating one to try and fix. But like most things, practice has never hurt.
“I think it really just comes down to reps and communications,” Penn State quarterback Drew Allar said. “… I think it’s just open dialogue. I was talking to a couple of receivers after a practice one day like, ‘Hey, if something happens, like you drop a pass, don’t worry about that. That’s not gonna affect me … I’m gonna give you opportunity after opportunity because that’s my read. That’s my progression. You’re getting the ball and I’m gonna give you guys chances.’”
Trust and some degree of faith might be the missing piece to the puzzle. It is interesting that Franklin — who has never been one to directly throw players under the bus, but has also not been afraid to say things between the lines — has opted for such open confidence in a group that has to some degree not quite earned it. Then again, there’s also something to be said for changing offensive coordinators being part of such a faith. Gone is the intense, maybe not entirely well-liked Mike Yurcich, in comes an innovative and charismatic Andy Kotelnicki. Liking someone might not make them a good coordinator, but believing what someone is selling you can certainly help the mood.
Nevertheless, it all comes back to work.
“I think a big emphasis this spring and winter was getting catches every day,” Saunders said. “And I think we definitely did a way better job [than last year]. Everybody in the room was getting catches every day. I would just say catching the football. I feel like we have more trust in each other. And everyone’s so excited about Coach K’s offense, and they’re willing to put in extra work and work on knowing the playbook. Knowing the routes and stuff. I feel like everyone’s just excited and that leads to having a good offseason.”
Time will tell if it leads to a good regular season.
