Blue White Illustrated

P HIL���S C ORNE R Will Penn State boast the best receiving unit in the Big Ten next season? When accepting the RichterHoward Award, given annually to the Big Ten���s best wide receiver, Allen Robinson implied that his hard work in the off-season made his in-season accomplishments possible. ���It���s been a pretty rough journey,��� said Robinson, who is only the second receiver in Penn State history to finish a season with more than 1,000 yards. ���I wouldn���t say too rough. Just a lot of long days in the spring and summer. It���s been a fun journey, actually.��� Robinson���s 77 catches for 1,018 yards and 11 touchdowns set a Penn State season receiving record, so the 2012 season must have been a fun journey for the sophomore from Southfield, Mich. And his success is only expected to continue into spring practice and next season. When you also consider the additional improvements of Brandon Moseby-Felder, Alex Kenney, Trevor Williams and the positive practice reports that BWI has received concerning freshman Eugune Lewis, that makes me believe that Penn State has a legitimate chance of sporting the No. 1 starting wide receiver unit in the Big Ten for the 2013 season. Especially during the second half of this past season, Moseby-Felder established himself as the second go-to wide receiver on Penn State���s roster. For the season, he totaled 31 catches for 437 yards and one touchdown. Of Moseby-Felder���s 31 receptions, 25 of them, along with 368 yards, came in the final seven games of the season. His 14.1-yards-per-catch average was the second-best on the team behind freshman tight end Jesse James, who averaged 18.4. If his development continues, along with improvement from Kenney, Williams, Lewis and Matt Zanellato, I don���t think another Big Ten team can equal the talent of Penn State's projected starting three wide receivers and the depth behind them. When you include the comments made by Penn State wide receivers coach Stan Hixon regarding Lewis and classmate Malik Golden, it���s easy to understand why many analysts believe Penn State could enter the 2013 season with the best wide receiver unit in the Big Ten. Normally, Bill O���Brien and Hixon would rather not depend on a redshirt freshman to enter spring practice as a major contributor, especially without ever playing in a collegiate game, but after listening to what Hixon had to say in November, maybe an exception should be made in Lewis���s case. ���Eugene Lewis is a player who came in for us, and we really had high expectations for him,��� Hixon said. ���The more we saw him, he really didn���t disappoint us. ���Eugene just might be the best pure athlete we have on our roster at wide receiver. It was a tough decision to make whether to redshirt him or play him at the end of preseason practice. [It���s] just as a coach you know from the long-range plans that you can tell he���s there, but he���s not there yet. ���It was a really tough decision because, up to the week before the first game, he was running with the second team. He���s gonna come, but he wasn���t ready to really get it to the next step.��� Personally, I���m predicting that in the 2013 season-opener against Syracuse in the Meadowlands Stadium on Aug. 31, Penn State���s starting wide receiver unit will be Robinson, Moseby-Felder and Lewis. And I believe it will be the best starting wide receiver unit in the Big Ten. Steve Manuel A STEP AHEAD Robinson, a sophomore, was honored as the top receiver in the Big Ten after the 2012 season. Next season, Penn State could have the conference���s best receiving unit. D E C E M B E R ��� 1 2 , ��� 2 0 1 2 ��� 4 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M

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