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ing one that many Nittany Lion fans won't soon forget. With Penn State trailing by two scores at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Thompkins made a one-handed grab near the Pitt goal line. The 39-yard catch came on what was essentially a 50-50 ball from quarterback Trace McSorley, and it set up a Saquon Barkley touchdown run that trimmed the Panthers' lead to just seven points. "We all expect to make big plays as a group, so when a guy makes a big play, it's not really 'wow.' It's just, you had your chance, you did your job. It's expected out of us, as a receiver group. We all expect each other to make big plays," Thompkins said. Penn State head coach James Franklin expects the same. Detailing the challenges that Thomp- kins faced during his first two years in the program, Franklin said the redshirt soph- omore is reaping the benefits of his deter- mined approach to the game. "Most times, guys don't have success as quickly as they want to have success. It's going to happen when it's meant to hap- pen. And DeAndre is a young man who just kept working hard, waiting for his opportunities, and when his opportuni- ties have come, he's made plays," Franklin said. "He's been able to make plays on his 50-50 balls, but he's a guy who can really run. I think actually in some ways we can throw the ball further down and separate him a little bit more with his speed. "He's put on, I think, almost 20 pounds since he's been here, so he's able to be physical and fight for the ball in the air. That's been impressive. He's done it at critical times during the game. So I've been pleased with him. I think Coach [Josh] Gattis has done a great job with his development, as well as older receivers Josh Gattis has been talking up Penn State's young wide receiver corps for a while. Now, with the 2016 season well under way, every- one is getting to see what he's been watch- ing in practice. With DeAndre Thompkins and Juwan Johnson having shown the potential to join Chris Godwin and DaeSean Hamilton as key playmakers, the Nittany Lion wideouts are being hailed as one of the strengths of the offense. Gattis, who is in his third season as Penn State's receivers coach, recently talked to reporters about the Lions' pass-catching corps. Here are his thoughts: ON GETTING EVERYONE INVOLVED It's a challenge when you're dealing with the number of guys that we have. We're trying to rotate six or seven guys throughout the game and trying to make sure guys are getting the amount of reps to allow them to develop early in the season. Each game calls for a different game plan, and obviously with the in- creased emergence of our tight ends, Mike Gesicki is playing really hard and playing really well, so we have a lot of confidence in him. We're asking guys to be unselfish right now. We're trying to be as balanced as we can be, not only in the pass game, but in the run game, es- pecially when you have the backs that we have. I've been very pleased with the way these guys have gone out and per- formed. Obviously, we're still taking strides toward the offense that we want to be, and I think we've shown how ex- plosive we can be in putting up the points and the yards and the numbers to be able to win games for us. ON DeANDRE THOMPKINS I've been very pleased with DeAndre. He's a guy who had a great off-season. We talked about it before the season started, with who were the most improved players for us, and that was Saeed Blacknall and DeAndre Thompkins. DeAndre is start- ing to show where all of his hard work and his dedication are really paying off. We have tremendous confidence in him. We know the kind of player that he can be. … Our quarterbacks have tremen- dous confidence with him, as well as the other receivers. So he is just another ex- ample of a guy who is just making the most of his opportunities and working hard each and every day to continue to develop into the player that he wants to be. ON DaeSEAN HAMILTON DaeSean is a true leader. He is a competitor and a guy who has a work ethic that is infec- tious. He has, probably, the greatest work ethic on the team, so he takes a lot of pride in how he performs and everything that he does. He's a guy who has made tremendous plays for us. I would never judge one man on one play. He's a guy who has 137 catches in his career at Penn State and I'll proba- bly say half of those have been big at some point, whether it's been a third- down conversion, touchdown or what- ever. He knows the kind of player that he is and he knows the kind of player that he can be. I think he stepped up as a leader last week [after dropping a key pass vs. Pitt], not only in how he performed but in how you accept your performance after the fact. He really showed other guys how passionate a player he is. Players rallied around him and they respect him for who he is and how hard he works. When you go out and see his work ethic each and every day in practice, you can only respect him for the player that he is. ON PSU'S IMPROVEMENTS I think you're just now seeing it kind of touch the surface, because each game plan is different. You're not carrying all of your Gattis pleased with development of PSU receiver corps JOSH GATTIS

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