Blue White Illustrated

A T T H E 2 0 2 0 N I T T A N Y L I O N S forts of the year. Against Pitt in week three, the true freshman supplied 53 yards in a 13-play, 88-yard drive that produced the decisive points in a gritty 17-10 victory at Beaver Stadium. The 5- 10, 206-pound Cain might not have the top-end speed to beat Brown in a sprint, but he's got the power to generate yards between the tackles and figures to give the junior-to-be a fight for the starting position. He played an impressive sup- porting role in the Cotton Bowl, rushing for 92 yards. Cain's classmate Ford saw action throughout the year, receiving a season- high eight carries against Indiana in No- vember. Slade began the season as the starter at running back but later evolved into more of a receiving threat out of the backfield. He had only 14 carries in the second half of the regular season, but he did finish the year ranked seventh on the team with 12 catches for 105 yards. This may just be the Lions' deepest po- sition group, and it's only going to get deeper in 2020. Holmes and Lee are both four-star prospects, giving Franklin and running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider even more options to consider heading into the off-season. QUOTABLE Brown on the Lions' running back rotation: "I'm used to sharing the load. I don't care, as long as we win. I'm a team guy. But to see these guys come in and knowing that when one dude comes out it won't drop off, I feel like it's hard for [opponents] knowing that when one run- ning back comes in you're just the same, no drop-off there. It gives me a lot of confidence to know that I can come out. When I'm tired, I can tap my head. I don't have to carry the ball 300 times. We can all split it together and still get the same production." RECEIVER KEY RETURNEES Jahan Dotson, John Dunmore, Daniel George, Mac Hippen- hammer, T.J. Jones, Isaac Lutz, Cam Sullivan-Brown KEY LOSSES Weston Carr, Dan Chisena, K.J. Hamler, Justin Shorter NEWCOMERS Norval Black, Jaden Dot- tin, KeAndre Lambert, Malick Meiga, Parker Washington OUTLOOK There's no getting around it: The Nittany Lions need some people to step forward here. They've been able to get by the past two seasons by leaning heavily on Hamler, but with his an- nouncement in late December that he's entering the NFL Draft, they don't have any choice but to look to some of their up-and-comers. Dotson has been a sure-handed comple- mentary wideout, but he's never been the focus of the passing game. He will enter his junior season with 40 career catches for 691 yards and five touchdowns. After Dot- son, there's not much proven productivity returning. George, Hippenhammer and Sullivan-Brown have combined to make 30 catches for 435 yards and two TDs in their Penn State careers. If one or more of them are going to take the next step in their development, the time to do so is now. With Hamler leaving early and Shorter transferring, there are two starting posi- tions open. And really, except for Dotson's spot, the entire depth chart is in flux at this position group. The shortage of proven wideouts might seem like a worrisome caveat to an other- wise exciting outlook on offense, and… well… it is. We're not going to tell anyone not to be concerned, especially with the staff having to break in its fourth position coach in as many years following Gerad Parker's departure for West Virginia. While Hamler and Dotson shined the past two seasons, the Lions haven't been able to recreate the kind of chemistry they had as recently as the 2017 season, when Dae- Sean Hamilton, Juwan Johnson and De- Andre Thompkins combined for 135 catches. This past season, Hamler and Dotson combined to make 83 of the 121 receptions that Penn State's wideouts to- taled. After those two, the next-most- productive wide receiver was Shorter with 12 catches for 137 yards. The next- most-productive returning wide receiver was George with nine for 100. And yet, there are reasons to feel opti- mistic about the Nittany Lions' wideout corps. Dunmore and Jones are both com- ing off of redshirt seasons and will be in position to challenge for substantial play- ing time next fall, and the coaching staff focused on receivers in its most recent re- cruiting class, landing five during the De- cember signing period. Of the seven wideouts who will have freshman eligibil- ity in 2019, three received four-star rat- ings from Rivals.com. The talent pool appears to be fairly deep, even with Shorter, a former five-star prospect, opt- ing to leave, and five-star Pennsylvania wideout Julian Fleming choosing Ohio State over the Lions. But PSU will ab- solutely need last season's supporting cast to be ready for much bigger roles in 2020. QUOTABLE Clifford on Penn State's young receivers: "We have developmental scrimmages after the games to kind of give those guys reps, and you see the flashes that they can bring. Obviously it's tough when you just come in and you have to jump into the playbook right away. But at the same time, you know, they've done a helluva job over the course of the season kind of catching up and at the same time showing me and coaches what they can do so that eventually we can build a lot of confidence. I'm sure they're going to be prepared to contribute next year." TIGHT END KEY RETURNEES Pat Freiermuth, Zack Kuntz, Brenton Strange KEY LOSS Nick Bowers NEWCOMERS Theo Johnson, Tyler Warren OUTLOOK A lot of Penn State fans no doubt breathed a sigh of relief when Freiermuth announced shortly after the regular-season finale against Rutgers that he was planning to come back for his jun- ior season. Because he spent a postgrad- uate year at Brooks School, the 6-5, 256-pound tight end could have left col- lege after his true sophomore season. But he opted instead to return, announcing that "the brotherhood and family atmos- phere in this program is something that I am not ready to leave." Freiermuth finished with only two catches for 39 yards in the Cotton Bowl, but he still managed to showcase what

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