Blue White Illustrated

F A S T F O R W A R D >> A N E A R L Y L O O K Ten championship season was a modest 57.9 percent. But the Lions connected just often enough to make you think that every time he looked downfield, some- thing thrilling was about to happen. You didn't get that feeling this year. The Lions weren't able to hit those big plays with any regularity, and while there were a variety of reasons for their decline, from McSorley's midseason leg injury to the offensive line's difficulties with pass protection, the biggest reason was that they simply weren't able to hang onto the ball often enough. Ac- cording to ProFootballFocus.com, Penn State's receivers, tight ends and running backs dropped 34 passes during the reg- ular season. They went on to drop four more passes in the bowl game. Of the players who were targeted more than 10 times during the regular season, only three – K.J. Hamler, Jahan Dotson and Miles Sanders – dropped fewer than 10 percent of the passes that were aimed at them. Five players had drop rates that exceeded 20 percent: Juwan Johnson (20.7), Nick Bowers (25.0), Thompkins (27.6), Mac Hippenhammer (33.3) and Brandon Polk (40.0). One caveat that bears mentioning is that these grades are judgment calls, compiled by people who don't have ac- cess to the tapes that coaches watch. Another caveat is that several of the players listed above were rarely targeted, so even a single drop would have caused their rate to skyrocket. But even if the specific numbers can be disputed, the larger point cannot. The Lions dropped a lot of passes last season. How much of a difference did those drops make? Let's do the math. Penn State averaged 13.8 yards per completion this season, so if those 38 dropped balls had instead been caught, the Lions I t didn't take long for Penn State to find a new wide receivers coach. Just eight days after dismissing David Corley, head coach James Franklin and the Nit- tany Lion football program announced a replacement. The Lions' new coach is Gerad Parker, a 38-year-old assistant with 15 years of experience, including a brief stint as interim head coach at Purdue in 2016. Parker had been at Duke for the past two seasons. "I am extremely humbled and hon- ored to have the chance to join the Penn State football program," Parker said in a prepared statement. "I am so thankful to Coach James Franklin and the entire coaching staff. We as a fam- ily are certainly very excited to be a part of a place that has been built with such a passion for football and with such a storied history. Coach Franklin has done great things at Penn State and has high expectations of where this program can go. Personally, I feel I have been called on this Earth to coach wideouts and help grow men, what better place to do that than Penn State, a place that is high in talent and has a chance to compete for championships." Franklin said Parker was a great match for the program given his back- ground as a former coach of Purdue's tight ends and receivers. He also served as the Boilermakers' recruiting coordi- nator and was interim head coach for six games after Darrell Hazell was fired midway through the 2016 season. "We are excited to add Gerad to our staff," Franklin said in an official state- ment announcing the hire. "He has a comprehensive background and knows the Big Ten. He is a terrific fit for our staff, university and community. He has a great opportunity to come in and make a sig- nificant impact both on and off the field with a very talented position group! Gerad played wide receiver in the SEC and has shown he is a great teacher of the position, as well. His wide receiver groups have been able to overachieve throughout his coaching career." Parker's top receiver at Purdue was DeAngelo Yancey, who won second-team All-Big Ten honors after catching 49 passes for 951 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2016. Yancey ended his career ranked seventh in school history in receiving yards (2,344) and receiving touchdowns (20). At Duke, Parker helped T.J. Rahming win second-team All-At- lantic Coast Conference honors last season. Parker's wideouts accounted for 70.4 percent of the Blue Devils' re- Parker hired to coach Nittany Lions' wideouts NEW ASSISTANT Parker has 15 years of coach- ing experience, including stops at Purdue and Duke. He coached the Blue Devils' wideouts last year. Photo courtesy of Penn State Athletics

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