Penn State Sports Magazine
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catching 40 passes for 691 yards and five touchdowns. Those numbers make him far and away the most experi- enced player in the Nittany Lions' wide receiver corps. Trailing him is George, a 6-2, 210-pound redshirt sophomore from Fort Washington, Md. Like Dot- son, George was a four-star prospect coming out of high school, and it looked as though he was headed in the right direction early last season. But his hand was injured in Penn State's third game of the year against Pitt, and he never quite regained his momen- tum. He only missed one game, sitting out the team's road trip to Maryland two weeks later, but he played with a brace on his hand for much of the regular season and didn't feel as though he was fully healthy until the practices leading up to Penn State's Cotton Bowl appearance against Memphis. George's numbers took a hit, even though he started regular-season games against Purdue, Iowa and Rutgers, as well as the bowl game vs. the Tigers. He fin- ished with nine catches for 100 yards. But he doesn't look back on the injury as a setback. Quite the opposite, in fact. "It really helped me, to be honest. It helped me get my body better physically, because I had to be in rehab all the time. It helped me get my mind stronger, be- cause I had to battle through it," he said. "At the same time, playing with it was kind of hard. So now that my hand is good, I feel like I'll be ten times better than I was before, just because I had to go through so much for so long. Now [the brace] is off, so I can go back to playing like myself again." Dotson said his priority heading into his junior season will be to become a more complete receiver, one who can line up inside or outside, and who can be counted on to block downfield whenever needed. "I came with the mindset that I wanted to get better every day and I wanted to prove myself," he said. "Even though I'm more mature in the program now, more of a veteran, I still need to keep that mindset. Because I want to prove myself every day – not only to the people I've already proved it to, but to anyone who's never watched me play. I want to prove myself to them. It's proving myself every day that has gotten me to where I am today." As the group's most experienced play- ers, George and Dotson will also be look- ing to serve as mentors to the team's newcomers. There are quite a few. Six members of Penn State's receiver corps will have freshman eligibility this fall, and those players have a lot to learn. Dotson and George said they were both impressed with last year's freshmen, Florida prospects T.J. Jones and John Dunmore, both of whom redshirted. Dot- son said Jones would frequently reach out to him during quarantine, detailing what- ever conditioning or practice he had done that day. "One thing I love about them both is that they love to work," Dotson said. "Their work ethic is great." Added George, "They bring a little sauce to the room, too. They bring that Florida swag." The Lions are also welcoming four true freshmen and a juco transfer this season. Two of those players were on campus this past spring, and while the veterans didn't get to see much of them before everything got shut down, four-star Virginia prospect KeAndre Lambert-Smith made an impression. Said Dotson, "He stood out a lot. His mindset is a little different than most. He's a little more mature when he's on the field. He just has the mindset that he wants to work, and that's what we need in our room." Both Dotson and George were able to stay active during the long months of quarantine. George used the athletic fields at Oxon Hill High, catching passes from his former quarterback there, Dajuan Rollins, who's now at Bowie State; Dot- son, a star at Nazareth (Pa.) Area, spent time working with his former high school quarterback, and he also has a close friend who owns a warehouse with sporting equipment, including a JUGS machine. If and when that informal work gives way to organized practices, it will be time to see just how much progress everyone made in the off-season. Penn State re- leased a depth chart in April with Dotson, >> OVER THE LINE Dotson's sec- ond-quarter touchdown catch against Memphis helped Penn State pre- vail in the Cotton Bowl. Photo by Steve Manuel