James Franklin reveals where Dante Cephas stands on wide receiver depth chart

Kent State transfer Dante Cephas had to adjust to life in the Big Ten, but Penn State head coach James Franklin says he’s in the mix at wideout as fall practice continues.

Cephas made the short trip east to State College after an extremely successful career with the Golden Flash, where he put up 744 yards in nine games in 2022 after posting 1,240 and nine touchdowns the year prior in ’21. Nonetheless, he decided to bolt and try his hand at college football on the big stage.

According to his head coach, James Franklin, the veteran is hanging in there in the battle at wide receiver.

“Yeah, he’s in that group that’s battling. We got a competitive group of four to five guys that are battling — he’s apart of that conversation,” said Franklin when asked about Cephas at recent media availability. He admitted that the Kent State import did have to overcome some challenges regarding the move up in competition level.

“We’ve had some really good conversations and I think he realizes that this has been different, the adjustment, especially with the DBs and the man-to-man coverage that we play. It’s just different.”

Per Franklin, struggles like this aren’t a massive worry when a guy is coming up from a smaller league.

“It’s not saying that he’s not a big time player,” explains the Nittany Lion coach, “but there’s a difference between getting up one or two days a week, or one or two times a year in a season vs. coming out here every single day with that type of competitiveness that you need to be successful.”

James Franklin says you just have to bring out a more competitive mindset to practice each and every day as a Nittany Lion. And Cephas is figuring that out right now.

“So it’s been a really good adjustment for him, he’s handled it really well, and he’s part of that group, you know, that’s competing for those spots.”

Also competing for starting WR spots are returners like KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Harrison Wallace, who combined for more than 600 yards a year ago. Penn State actually lost three of their top four pass catchers from last season and didn’t have an ace to begin with. So there’s plenty of opportunity for Dante Cephas or those returners or even an off-the-radar name to step up and shine.