Penn State Sports Magazine
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3 0 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M and those guys have done, because there sure were a bunch of articles when they didn't play up to people's thoughts and standards. "Overall, I've been pleased with what they've been able to do. We've got to continue to build it, build their confi- dence, and build their production. But I think it's hard to argue that they may be the most improved position on the team right now. "Let's be honest with it. We needed that to happen. So that's fair. I'm not saying some of the things that were writ- ten and said in the past were not fair. But again, just like the coaches, if we're go- ing to be critical, then they should be praised when they're doing some really good things, which I think they are." During an Oct. 12 visit to USC in which Warren set Penn State and Big Ten re- cords with his 17 catches for 224 yards, Wallace, Clifford, Fleming and Evans all contributed important plays. Fleming in particular stood out, making a pair of fourth-down catches to extend a PSU drive that tied the score in the fourth quarter and ultimately led to a 33-30 overtime win. The group also enjoyed its share of success in a 28-13 win at Wisconsin, with Wallace's 5 catches for 67 yards leading the way. Then came Ohio State, and the prob- lems resurfaced. Lining up against one of the best secondaries in the FBS, Penn State's receivers were targeted only 8 times on 29 passing drop-backs. Wal- lace and Fleming showed up on the stat sheet with their 3 combined catches, but Clifford was shut out on 3 targets. With the receivers contained, Penn State turned to junior running back Nicholas Singleton (6 catches on 6 targets for 54 yards) and Warren (4 catches on 5 tar- Considering how well they started out, it's surprising that the wide receiver position would prove to be such a vexing concern for the Nittany Lions during the James Franklin coaching era. Franklin inherited DaeSean Hamilton, who would go on to become the program's all-time leading receiver with 214 catches for 2,842 yards and 18 touchdowns. In addition, the coach's hast- ily assembled 2014 recruiting class featured two four-star wideouts in Saeed Blacknall and Chris Godwin. Blacknall played in 46 contests for the Lions and was one of the heroes of their victory over Wis- consin in the 2016 Big Ten Championship Game. Godwin compiled 2,421 receiving yards in 40 games before leaving early for the NFL. He's been with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the past eight seasons and when healthy has been one of the league's most productive wideouts. From 2014-17, the wideouts were coached by Josh Gattis, a member of Franklin's previous staff at Vanderbilt. In January 2018, Gattis left to become co-offensive coordinator at Alabama. For Penn State, that's when the trouble started. Two weeks before Gattis' departure, the Lions had hired former Army assistant David Corley to coach their running backs. With Gattis headed to Tuscaloosa, PSU was forced to reshuffle its staff. Corley took charge of the wide receivers, while former Florida assistant Ja'Juan Seider was hired to oversee the backfield. Corley had coached wide receivers at Army in 2017, but in keeping with their tradition, the Black Knights fielded one of the country's most run- heavy offenses. They attempted only 65 passes in 13 games during Corley's season as receivers coach, completing 20 for 361 yards. Penn State's wideouts underperformed badly in 2018. Through the season's first five games, Trace McSorley had seen 12.4 percent of his catch- able passes dropped, more than double the rate of any other quarterback for a team in the Associated Press Top 25. The situation didn't improve as the season went on. The Lions ended their campaign with a 27-24 loss to Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl, a game marred by numerous drops by the wideouts. Cor- ley was fired the next day. The Lions hired former Duke assistant Gerad Parker to take over the wide receivers room in 2019, but he spent just one season in State College before West Virginia lured him away to become offensive coordinator. In 2020, the Lions hired Taylor Stubblefield away from Miami (Fla.). A record-setting wide receiver during his playing days at Purdue, Stubblefield had a hand in Jahan Dotson's emergence as one of the top receivers in Penn State history. But the Lions struggled to develop complementary threats, and Stubblefield was fired in January 2023. Even before Stubblefield's exit, the frequent changes in leadership were having an impact on the Lions' recruiting at the position. When they lost Julian Fleming to Ohio State in the 2020 cycle, the five-star prospect from nearby Catawissa, Pa., said it was partly because he felt like he was al- ways talking to somebody new at PSU. That wasn't the case at Ohio State, where Brian Hartline had been working with the Buckeyes' wideouts since 2017 (and is still on the job in Columbus). "Overall, there was just instability at Penn State," Fleming told reporters when he announced his decision in June 2019. "I've been recruited by three different wide receiver coaches there. … Parker is a great overall guy, but when it came down to it, I felt that Coach Hartline was better suited to further me as a man and as a player." Former Virginia assistant Marques Hagans took over the position group at Penn State in 2023. He helped bring Fleming back to Pennsylvania as a senior transfer, but the receiver corps is still seeking the consistency it will need in order for the Lions to achieve their championship aspirations. To the right are the career statistics for the scholarship receivers that Penn State has brought into the program since the start of the Franklin era. The numbers are from the players' tenure at PSU and do not include any stats they may have amassed either before or after their time with the Nit- tany Lions. — Matt Herb A Period Of Upheaval Had Lasting Effects Chris Godwin was a four-star signee in James Franklin's first Penn State recruiting class and went on to catch 154 passes for 2,421 yards before heading to the NFL. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL