Blue White Illustrated

here was a lot of talk about Penn State's wide receivers during and immediately a9er the 2018 season. The numbers were stark and undeniable. Coming o8 a 2017 campaign in which they had averaged just over 290 passing yards per game to rank 23rd in the Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision, the Nittany Lions tumbled to 76th place, averaging only 218.1 yards in Trace McSorley's 6nal sea- son as starting quarterback. The advanced analytics at Pro Foot- ball Focus offered further insight into Penn State's decline. In 2017, the Lions' wide receivers had combined to drop only 15 passes in 13 games. The following year, the wideouts were charged with nearly double that amount, totaling 29 drops. Position coach David Corley was let go immediately a9er the season ended, and Gerad Parker was hired away from Duke to 6ll the vacancy. Coming out of spring practice, it seemed as though that change was paying o8. Ricky Rahne, the Nittany Lions' o8en- sive coordinator at the time, said that while a variety of factors had played into the team's struggles in the passing game and would all require some level of re- 6nement, he was beginning to see the kind of progress that he had hoped to see from the wideouts. "I thought this spring we did a really nice job with that," Rahne said. "We've made some major contested catches, and I've been incred- ibly pleased with the wide receivers and how they've grown, having a plan every play. It's been awesome." Penn State's passing performance for the 2019 season was not awesome. Al- though the team's total number of drops fell from 38 to 31, between K.J. Hamler (12), Daniel George (four), Jahan Dotson (four), Dan Chisena (three), Justin Shorter (two), and Mac Hippenhammer (one), the Nittany Lions still were charged with 26 drops by Pro Football Focus. What's more, Penn State again 6nished 76th in the FBS in passing of- fense, averaging just 221.3 yards per game through the air. A more anecdotal piece of evidence of those struggles can be found in Blue White Illustrated's "Highs and Lows" column, which follows every game. The column is aimed at a Penn State audi- ence, and the runs, throws, catches and tackles that are highlighted re- 7ect that perspective. Some- what remarkably, the Nittany WHAT'S THE CATCH? Success this fall will depend on a strong showing by the WRs JUDGMENT CALL of success. That's going to be obvi- ously important." Franklin expressed his confidence that Penn State's young receivers will make progress under Stubblefield's tutelage. In fact, the Nittany Lions' offensive success will depend on it, he said. "The good thing is that we're run- ning the ball much better than we were probably four or five years ago, but for us to go where we want to go, we've got to do both at a high level," Franklin said. "The exciting thing is that there are some really good op- portunities for some wide receivers to come in and compete, and we think we've got some guys who are ready to kind of take the next step, and we need them to. You know, that will be a focal point for the spring and the summer and obviously next fall." CONTRACTUAL MATTERS Approved by the board of trustees' compensa- tion committee on Dec. 6, Franklin's contract extension through the 2025 season had not yet been signed as of Feb. 5. Franklin said there hasn't been a delay, but the details of the pact still were being worked out. "As you can imagine, these con- tracts aren't like three pages of notes," he said. "So it's about lan- guage and making sure what Penn State is comfortable with and what we're comfortable with, and that takes time." Discussing comments made by Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour before the Cotton Bowl, in which she estimated that the contract details would be announced in "early to mid-January," Franklin said that a verbal agreement had been reached but that the specifics were still being worked out so that "both parties are protected" before it's signed. He said that he thought the final resolution was "going to happen soon." "There really were no hold-ups or concerns or issues on either party," Franklin said. "It was just kind of going through all the red tape and the verbiage of contracts like that." ■ T SURE-HANDED Dot- son makes a recep- tion vs. Rutgers. The ability to make con- tested catches is a key requirement in PSU's offense. Photo by Steve Manuel

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