Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> off-season in which teammates and coaches had taken turns hyping his per- formances in practice. He had been a thorn in the side of his defensive team- mates, making catches and talking a bit of trash just to keep things interesting. As cornerback Amani Oruwariye said, "He's just a guy with a lot of energy. Even last year, when he redshirted, he was just bringing energy to the locker room." That's always been Hamler's style – high energy. As for the showmanship, that seems to have come from his family back home in Pontiac, Mich. If you want to see where the rookie wideout gets his outgoing personality, cue up the video of the birthday rap that his parents, Thomas and Latonya, sent him in the summer of 2017, a video that immediately went viral after appearing on Hamler's Twitter feed. "Y'all not ready," Thomas warns at the outset, a line that could just as easily have been directed at Penn State fans as future Nittany Lion opponents. Then Latonya steps into the frame. She raps, "It's gonna be amazing when you come through the door, and that No. 1 Nittany Lion finally roars." Then they make some cat noises. It's a thoroughly charming video, and their son clearly inherited a bit of their goofy charisma. Hamler may also cite Bugs Bunny as an influence – yes, really – but it was his parents who shaped his demeanor. "My mom is the funny one of the family," he said, "so I think I got it from [her]. But my dad is a sleeper. He can be funny when he wants to be, goofy when he wants to be. But I think it's just all the people that I've been around, just cousins, family members always crack- ing jokes on me a little bit. So I like to have fun. Playing football has to be fun. If you want to play it, you have to be se- rious most of the time, but if you're not having fun with it then there's no point in playing it." Hamler's high school career started out fun. He helped Orchard Lake St. Mary's – the same school that produced former Penn State great Allen Robinson – win Division 3 state championships his soph- T o hide just how dangerous Penn State is in the return game would be an ex- ercise in futility, so K.J. Hamler and De- Andre Thompkins don't try to disguise anything. They're good. And they know it. "Any time I've got the ball in my hand, it's exciting," Hamler said a;er Penn State's 63-10 win over Kent State. "Every time I touch the ball, I think touchdown." "My whole mindset is, when I'm on the 9eld I want to be the guy they don't want to give the ball to," Thompkins said. "That's something that I pride my- self on. It's something that Coach [Charles] Hu: instilled in me when I 9rst got here. There have been plenty of times, even at Pitt, when I turned around and I looked at [Juwan Johnson] and I said, 'Bro, sit down, you're not going back out there no more.' " The Golden Flashes were unable to contain the dynamic duo in Penn State's nonconference 9nale. The Nittany Lions didn't score a special teams touchdown, but Hamler and Thompkins both en- sured that they made an impact. Hamler burst straight through the middle of the Kent State coverage team before bumping toward the right side- line for a 52-yard kicko: return. With less than 30 seconds remaining in the half, his e:ort allowed the Lions to be aggressive o:ensively and score just be- fore the second quarter ended. The redshirt freshman also returned a punt for the 9rst time, eluding several defenders on a 33-yard runback that ended when he was stopped by Kent State punter Matthew Trickett. Thompkins, meanwhile, had a 32-yard punt return on which Trickett had to make another touchdown-saving tackle. Through three games, Thompkins was averaging 21.5 yards per punt return, an 8.2-yard improvement over last season. Washington's Dante Pettis led the nation in 2017 by averaging 20.4 yards. Hamler's numbers were equally im- pressive. Heading into Penn State's Big Ten opener at Illinois, he was averaging 35.4 yards per kicko: return. Last sea- son, Tony Pollard of Memphis led the nation by averaging 40 yards per return. The sample size was small, to be sure, but there's been nothing small about the impact the two wideouts have had on Penn State's return game. James Franklin said they've even elevated the play of their blockers, because the other 10 players on the 9eld know that any opening could yield big yardage. "When they get their hands on the ball, everyone in the stadium is excited to see what they're going to do," Franklin said. "We as coaches are. And the special teams coordinator is getting gray hairs on the opposite sideline." There's a give-and-take between Hamler and Thompkins that brings out their best. Hamler has one speed on and o: the 9eld – fast – and that energy can o;en boost Thompkins, who is calmer and more laid back. Thompkins, mean- while, provides Hamler with a much- needed steady hand. "K.J. is like that little brother with the energy that you've got to calm down all the time," Thompkins said. "But it's in- fectious, just having a guy like that. … It's pretty much like a big brother-little brother type thing. I have high hopes for him, his ceiling is high. He's just got to keep balling out." Their relationship has proven mutually bene9cial, but it's also been competitive. While watching Hamler's long punt re- turn against Kent State, Thompkins said he wanted his teammate to score but added that "he knows who big brother is. He knows that that's my position and he's not going to take it away from me." ■ Thompkins, Hamler ignite Nittany Lions' return game |

• Cover