Penn State Football: Talent Is There but Consistency at Receiver Will Tell the Story

For all of the well deserved optimism surrounding Penn State football this season the Nittany Lions are not without their question marks and potential weak points as training camp rounds deeper into August.

As a brief and subjective summary – the kicking units have a long way to go to prove themselves as an asset, especially in the biggest games of the year. But with a stout Nittany Lion defense backing up those punts, Penn State might be able to get away with something less than the elite level punting and kicking it has had for the better part of the last decade.

Elsewhere Penn State coach James Franklin has both touted the depth that this cornerback and secondary group has while also airing slightly on the side of seeing is believing when it comes to their ability to replace the likes of Ji’Ayir Brown and Joey Porter Jr. But until Penn State doesn’t put a complete defense on the field and doesn’t put a solid coverage until on the field, there’s no reason to think it won’t happen. So benefit of the doubt there.

Circle back to the offensive side of the ball and you get into a bit of a time machine.

This one goes to 2018.

Because while Penn State doesn’t have a outright problem, it does have a season-defining question mark. Can the receiving room make up for the departures of Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley and can they do it each and every week? In 2018 the question wasn’t all that different, Penn State looking to replace a great group of receivers and tight ends that had carried the day in the passing game. Penn State had a good quarterback in Trace McSorley, a good running game and a pretty decent offensive line. All it needed was guys to catch the ball.

And while KJ Hamler did his part, for a while in 2018 Penn State was the worst team in the nation in regards to dropped catchable passes. McSorley could make the throws, and Miles Sanders could run the ball, but drops and inconsistency turned hopes of something more into a 9-4 season.

Fast forward to 2023 and you’re left with the receiver’s room that isn’t short on potential but will have to prove itself in real time. KeAndre Lambert-Smith is the most seasoned of the bunch at this level but even he is plagued with a career of inconsistent play. The good KLS is a fantastic receiver, the inconsistent one is exactly that.

“I think wide receiver is a position where I wouldn’t necessarily say we have a two-deep or three-deep that’s defined yet, but I think we have good number of guys that legitimately are competing for that third, fourth, that third spot but really when you talk about the two-deep, the fourth, fifth and sixth, and I think there’s probably eight guys that are legitimately in that competition and it kind of goes day-to-day,” Franklin said on Sunday.

“The big thing that we’re looking for at each position and then really across our team and as our team as a whole is consistency, that’s one of the things we talked about earlier today at the end of our walk through and we have to consistently have championship-level practices. And that’s really the same thing at the wide receiver position. There’s probably eight to nine guys that are showing flashes that they could be the starter for us, but it comes down to consistency after every position and that’s magnified at that spot.”

The entrance of Kent State transfer Dante Cephas should offer some stability in this area but even he will have to prove that he can do what he did with the Golden Flashes against teams like Ohio State and Michigan. Of course Tinsley – an upward tier transfer in his own right – proved that the transition was possible, but he also had the benefit of Washington getting no small number of targets in his own right. For Cephas he might shake out to being the No. 1 guy, and that will come with a lot more attention as he adjusts. Beyond KLS and Cephas, there is plenty of talent at receiver, and as a young Jahan Dotson found himself on the 2018 roster a few years from being a Top 20 NFL Draft choice, being unproven doesn’t mean you don’t have what it takes. All the same, it comes down to consistency.

“[Cephas has] done some really good things,” Franklin added. “He’s gotten bigger. He’s gotten stronger. The guys have got a ton of respect for him. He’s shown flashes. I do think there’s an adjustment period that he’s going through because it’s one thing to do it two or three times a season when you’re watching him play an opponent like Georgia. It’s another thing to do it week-in and week-out in the Big Ten, and I think it’s another thing to do it every day at practice. I think he’s really embraced that, and I think he recognizes it’s going to bring out the best in him as well.”

The good news for Penn State is that the Nittany Lions have a better offensive line then they did in 2018 and even while Miles Sanders has made a name for himself in the NFL, the combo of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen might be a better running back room as well. In turn this receivers group might just get a few more weeks to work on things before the rubber really meets the road.

But all that really matters is what happens after the pigskin hits their hands.