In Mitchell Tinsley, Penn State adds 'mature, experienced' receiver
Mitchell Tinsley has been everything Penn State head coach James Franklin expected.
A prolific receiver who transferred to the Nittany Lions this offseason, that is very much by design. Entering his fifth year of college football coming off a second-team All-Conference USA campaign at Western Kentucky in 2021, Tinsley is a refined addition to the Penn State roster.
Having done the homework on Tinsley before extending the opportunity to the NCAA transfer portal target in December, Franklin and the Nittany Lion staff knew he would be.
“You’re talking about a guy who’s played a lot of college football, has got a pretty good understanding of not only offensive scheme, but defensive scheme, as well,” Franklin told reporters Monday at his press conference kicking off the start of Penn State’s spring practices. “He’s comfortable in his own skin, not only as a person but also as a player.”
And that’s without having seen Tinsley yet in formal practices.
Mitchell Tinsley’s first months at Penn State
Able to glean countless positive recommendations from Tinsley’s coaching staff at Western Kentucky, Franklin’s assessment has been backed up in the time since by Penn State’s strength staff, quarterback (and roommate) Sean Clifford, and the rest of the Nittany Lions who have encountered Tinsley since his arrival in January.
Pointing to Penn State’s situational need at receiver in February, with top target Jahan Dotson off to the NFL, Franklin acknowledged what he’d hoped would be a mutually beneficial relationship.
“It gives us a veteran guy with Jahan leaving. Jahan was extremely productive. Mitchell was very, very productive as well,” Franklin said. “It gives us an older guy. We think we got some talented, young receivers as well. But this gives us an older, veteran presence who’s had a lot of production, in that room. So I think there’s gonna be a lot of value for both parties there.”
More than six weeks later, that learning process will continue to play out as Tinsley begins his first spring in the program.
Still, having established the foundations of the relationship between the program and Tinsley, Franklin expects both Penn State and the receiver to see dividends on the field and off.
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“Mitch is so mature and so experienced,” Franklin said Monday. “We haven’t had a chance to see him yet as a football player. The feedback from the quarterbacks and the guys, they’ve been impressed with him.
“What we’ve been able to see with testing numbers, with winter workouts, with those types of things, is about what we anticipated, a mature guy that’s had great production that we feel like there’s still some areas that we can help him develop and grow.”
A secondary benefit
Likewise, Tinsley can help a new crop of Penn State receivers that includes early enrollees Kaden Saunders and Omari Evans.
Set to add Anthony Ivey and Tyler Johnson to the equation this summer, Penn State will have more first- or second-year receivers (Liam Clifford and Harrison Wallace included) as third-, fourth-, or fifth-years combined.
“Every freshman wants to play as a true freshman,” Franklin said. “But it also helps you for the guys that may not be ready, especially at the start of the season. It allows you to feel like you’ve got a veteran presence for those young guys to learn from. (It’s) part of the whole developmental strategy.”
