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S P R I N G P R A C T I C E W R A P Three years a=er his departure, Chisena said he was still concerned that Franklin might harbor some lingering hard feel- ings. But shortly a=er arriving at the Lasch Building for his meeting, he dis- covered that those fears were unwar- ranted. "I was in the lobby just waiting and he came out and just yells, 'Blast from the past!' He seemed happy to see me, which was really relieving, because I didn't know how I was going to be received," Chisena said. "It was a good feeling, knowing that I would be welcomed back without having things held against me. It's what made me feel really good about coming back." His comeback story wasn't without its detours. Chisena played on the scout team during preseason camp, and when he ;nally saw game action – against Ohio State in late September – he hyperex- tended his knee on his very ;rst special teams rep. He played through the injury that night, but he didn't get back on the ;eld until November, when he received one special teams rep against Maryland in the regular-season ;nale. All told, Chisena's season consisted of four total game reps. But the coaching sta< still was in- trigued by his physical potential. He was 6-foot-3, 210 pounds and had 4.3-sec- ond 40-yard speed, a potentially exciting combination that made him an early talk- ing point for Franklin this o<-season. Unprompted, Franklin described him as "interesting" during a signing day news conference in February. The following month, Franklin brought him up again, noting that he was having "a nice spring so far." And as the end of spring practice approached, the coach reiterated that he and his sta< were excited about Chisena's potential. Of course, Chisena understands that he'll need to do more than simply run fast if he's going to ful;ll that potential. He's been focused on sharpening all the facets of his skill set and acknowledges that there's still plenty of work ahead as he prepares for his ;nal season. "You can't just be fast," he said. "You have to be able to get out of breaks. You can't just run a go [route] every play, or else they're going to play 15, 20 yards back on you every time and you're not going to be able to make anything happen. So get- ting back into route running, making cuts, all that change-of-direction stu< was a challenge. It's something I'm still working on and feel like I've de;nitely improved a lot over the last several months." Franklin has seen that improvement, too, and he's eager to ;nd out where it takes Chisena during the months to come. "He's a guy that we've always had high hopes for, and he's just had a really good, consistent spring," Franklin said. "He's mature, smart, strong. Obviously, he's got a lot of work to do from a fundamental standpoint, but we like where he's at." ■ Division II All-American is latest to join Nittany Lions' receiver corps Weston Carr, an NCAA Division II All-America wide re- ceiver out of Asuza Pacific University in California, an- nounced via Instagram on April 6 that he will be joining Penn State for his final season of eligibility. "After 4 amazing years at APU, it is with gratitude that I announce my decision to become a Nittany Lion," Carr wrote. "Azusa, you are my foundation for this new begin- ning, and I'm thankful for the love and support you gave me on and off the field." Last season, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Carr reeled in 33 re- ceptions for 644 yards and 12 touchdowns. His most produc- tive season was as a sophomore in 2017 when he caught 86 passes for 1,458 yards and 15 TDs. As a freshman, he had 48 catches for 903 yards and nine scores. Throughout spring practice, Penn State coach James Franklin said that he and his staff were paying close attention to potential transfers, particularly at wide receiver and on the offensive line. "Like a lot of programs in the country, we're going to maybe add a few guys [before the season] from a transfer perspective. Wide receiver is something that we've got our eyes open and are looking around for," Franklin said. "And possibly on the offensive line as well. So that's something that would change our picture here between now and camp." Carr, whose older brother Austin was a first-team All-Big Ten receiver at Northwestern, earned an offer to join the Wildcats as an invited walk-on coming out of Benicia (Calif.) High in 2015. He also attracted interest from Boise State and Nevada before choosing Asuza Pacific and redshirting as a true freshman. Carr becomes the second wide receiver to announce plans to transfer to Penn State this off-season, joining former Florida State wideout George Campbell, who announced for the Nittany Lions in February. In other roster news, the Lions recently announced that they were putting in- vited walk-ons Isaac Lutz, Dan Chisena and Hunter Kelly on scholarship. Lutz is a junior wide receiver, Chisena a senior wideout and Kelly a junior offensive lineman who backed up Michal Menet at center this spring. –N.B. CARR

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