PSU’s Hamler has mind made up, but keeps mum on draft decision
STATE COLLEGE >> KJ Hamler walked slowly into the Beaver Stadium media room Friday, looking and sounding like he wanted to be elsewhere.
Hamler, Penn State’s electric sophomore wide receiver, was pensive because he knew he’d be asked whether he had decided to stay in school next year or declare for the NFL draft.
“You’re all going to find out at the bowl game,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about that. Right now, I’m focused on this bowl game and my teammates.”
The 5-foot-9, 176-pound Hamler is the leading receiver for No. 10 Penn State (10-2), which will face No. 17 Memphis
at noon Dec. 28 in the Cotton Bowl. A redshirt sophomore, he has 54 receptions for 858 yards and eight touchdowns and was named to the All-Big Ten second team.
He’s projected to be a late second-round pick by CBS Sports if he chooses to come out. He answered questions for about 20 minutes Friday and said then he hadn’t made a decision yet. Later, he said he had decided and was asked why he was waiting to make it public.
“I know what I’m doing,” he said. “It was mostly just having the focus on the team. I don’t want to be a distraction to the team. Everybody asks me every day, ‘KJ, what are you doing? Are you leaving?’ I have people back home (in Michigan) asking me.
“I haven’t told anybody a lot. I just really didn’t want this to be about me. This is a team thing. We’re going to the Cotton Bowl as a team. This isn’t just KJ Hamler going to the Cotton Bowl, so I really just pushed that aside.”
Four of Hamler’s teammates already have announced their decisions and two others, defensive end Shaka Toney and cornerback Tariq Casto-Fields, have yet to declare.
Yetur Gross-Matos, an AllBig Ten first team defensive end, is bypassing his senior year and entering the draft. He’s projected to be taken late in the first round.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Gross-Matos said. “I got a lot of love for this program and a lot of love for this school. It was a hard decision, but I felt it was the right decision.”
Tight end Pat Freiermuth, offensive tackle Will Fries and center Michal Menet all have announced they’re returning to Penn State next season.
“I didn’t want to live by myself,” Freiermuth said. “I’m not ready for that. I don’t want to pay bills. I made the decision midseason. I knew I was going to stay. After the Ohio State game (a 28-17 loss), I knew for sure I was going to stay. We have a lot of unfinished business.”
Depending on what Hamler does, Penn State will have nine or 10 returning starters on offense in 2020.
“Mike (Menet) and I both felt like there were things we wanted to accomplish that we hadn’t done yet, like playing in a Big Ten championship game,” Fries said.
“I’m excited to come back and play another year with him. We really like being here. We really like being with this team. We’re a closeknit group. We feel like our offense can keep improving.”
Whether Hamler will be part of the 2020 offense remains to be seen.
“I didn’t think it was going to be this difficult or this stressful,” he said. “It’s more like recruiting when you’re trying to pick a school. It’s a hard decision. I keep writing pros and cons down.
“The pros (of staying) are being with my boys one last time, being with Cliff (quarterback Sean Clifford), being with my coaching staff and being under Coach Franklin’s wing.”