Blue White Illustrated

fortable with the way your body is sup- posed to move, the way your body is going to be positioned when you're getting ready to catch the ball." Washington also benefitted from the presence of an expe- rienced cornerback in Tariq Castro-Fields who was able to critique his performances from the perspective of a would-be defender. "I've seen so many guys play that slot, play the outside [receiver spot], so I know little tendencies and things like that that a young guy would show," Castro-Fields said. "So after guarding him, I would try to break it down: Don't do this. I already knew you were going to do this because you did that." With the benefit of that crash course in college receiving, Washington started the team's opener at Indiana. He caught two passes for 12 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown grab in overtime, but his po- tential didn't really start to show until the following week, when he caught four passes for 73 yards against Ohio State. "That kid has so much talent," fellow wideout Jahan Dotson said after the Nit- tany Lions' 38-25 loss to the Buckeyes. "I watch him every day at practice, and he's amazing. Today was like a little preview. You got a little preview of what he can do with the ball in his hands. He can make plays. We have a lot of ballers on this team, and they have a lot of football in front of them. I can't wait for them to prove themselves." Washington continued proving himself over the course of the regular season. Against Maryland, he had eight catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns. At Ne- braska, he had five for 70 yards. At Michi- gan, with the Wolverines paying close attention to Dotson, he totaled nine catches for 93 yards, part of an effort in which true freshman players accounted for 267 of Penn State's 417 yards. With at least three more seasons of eli- gibility remaining, Washington will have a chance in the coming years to show just how high his ceiling really is. But his teammates have already seen enough to get a feel for that. Said Castro-Fields, "The sky's the limit for him. He has all the tools needed to be successful." Meanwhile, in the backfield, Lee has displayed similar potential. Unlike Holmes, a January enrollee, the St. Pe- tersburg, Fla., native didn't arrive at Penn State until the summer, so he went into preseason camp at the bottom of a five- man depth chart. Even after the Lions began losing running backs, Lee didn't see much action. In his first three games, he received seven carries. But behind the scenes, he and Holmes were both starting to "show flashes," Franklin said. At Michigan, Lee put it all together, getting the start when Ford was forced to miss the game due to a death in the family and rushing for 134 yards and a touchdown in Penn State's 27-17 vic- tory. It was the most productive rushing performance by any PSU running back to that point in the season, and Ford wasn't surprised to see one of his freshman backups do so well. "These guys prepare like starters, and they can play like starters," he said. "You saw what hap- pened on the field with Keyvone. He's young, he's still growing, so you're going to see a lot more of it, too." Franklin said Lee's late-season success – he had 95 yards against Rutgers and 31 against Michigan State – was partly due >> RISING STAR Jacobs breaks up a pass during Penn State's game against Mary- land. The true fresh- man backed up Brandon Smith at outside linebacker. Photo by Steve Manuel

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