Young Penn St. receivers to get bowl opportunity

TAMPA, Fla. — Jahan Dotson’s opt-out paves way for young Penn State wide receivers to take center stage at Outback Bowl

During his sparkling Penn State career — and especially over the past two seasons — Jahan Dotson was a gravitational player for the Nittany Lions offense. No matter where the wide receiver lined up, that’s where the opposing defense had its focus, and it presented other cracks and crevices for the rest of his teammates to take advantage of.

Dotson was a senior in 2021, and while he had the option of returning in 2022 because of the NCAA waiver granting athletes an extra season of eligibility amid the coronavirus pandemic, his play showed that he was ready for the next level. Penn State knew that life without Dotson awaited.

The post-Dotson era will officially begin Saturday against Arkansas in the Outback Bowl. On Monday, Dotson declared for the 2022 NFL Draft and announced he was opting out of the bowl game. And so to close out the 2021 season, Penn State’s young options will get their chance to step in and step up.

Despite Dotson’s departure, Penn State will still return two starting wide receivers next season in sophomores Parker Washington and KeAndre Lambert-Smith. Both players took steps forward from their first seasons to their second seasons, and last month, wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield laid out how he wants to see their trajectories.

“It’s constant improvement,” Stubblefield said in November. “Coach [James] Franklin talks about it each week. That’s why he talks about 1-0. It’s like, each week, let’s have continuous improvement, and then there’s some science behind it, too, right, there’s the adolescent brain and how it matures and how it continues to grow and learn as you get older.

“Then, there’s just a natural progression of being in a system, being with a receiver coach that you’ve been with for a while, and you just see the growth.”

Washington ranked second on the team with 57 catches for 722 yards and four touchdowns, while Lambert-Smith was right behind him with 31 catches for 447 yards and five touchdowns. For both players, they built on the potential they showed in their first years on campus and then rounded out their games.

Washington exhibited plenty of savvy in his route running and showed he could be a reliable security blanket over the middle. And when he gets the ball in his hands, he can make things happen.

“He came in, one, his mental toughness is extremely high,” Stubblefield said. “He is an unbelievable worker. He already had a sense of the savviness that it takes to play that kind of inside position, and so when he got here, his aptitude is what allowed him to play and play a lot early on.

“And so my challenge to him has just been about things that aren’t necessarily related to how fast and, I guess, how you want to run a route. It’s more of looking at the whole picture. Being able to truly try to understand what the defense is trying to do and to get inside the minds and in some regards the body of the defender.”

For Lambert-Smith, Stubblefield drew a comparison to the player he’s trying to help replace. The blueprint of Dotson’s career featured his role growing bit by bit each year until a breakout 2020 campaign. When Dotson decided to return in 2021, he was able to become a superstar.

The 6-foot-1, 184-pound Lambert-Smith has started all 12 games this season and has shown he can be a big-play threat, like with his 52-yard catch against Wisconsin or his 82-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown against Villanova. Earlier this year, he highlighted his attitude and mindset as a reason for his improvement, and it’s shown through on the field.

“He’s done a good job, a much better job this year than last year in terms of his mental toughness because he’s getting challenged,” Stubblefield said. “When you are a starter, you have more of a responsibility. You have more of a responsibility to be alignment and assignment sharp and to execute, and for the most part, he’s done a pretty good job this year.”

But then there’s a host of others who can step in. Stubblefield had high praise for redshirt freshman Malick Meiga, who is potentially in line to see the biggest playing time increase without Dotson in the fold, and he said freshmen Harrison Wallace III and Liam Clifford are continuing their adjustments to college.

And this is the perfect environment for one or both or any number of wide receivers — even redshirt senior Cam Sullivan-Brown or little-used redshirt freshman Jaden Dottin — to break into the rotation and begin their auditions for playing time next season.

There’s a significant freshman class, led by Westerville South (Ohio) four-star Kaden Saunders, set to join the roster at wide receiver, but the bowl game gives the players currently on the roster the chance to stake their claim to a roster spot in Dotson’s stead.

And that’s what Stubblefield wants to see.

“Being at Penn State, you’re going to have really good players ahead of you, no different than Jahan,” Stubblefield said. “Jahan had some really good players ahead of him, and I don’t want to say you’re going to wait your time because that’s not what it’s about — it’s about playing the best players and the best players will play — but there is just a path that we have here to develop players so that they can be their best by year three and four.”