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Route running the winter focus for Penn State wideout Malick Meiga

IMG_1698 5 (1)by:David Eckert•02/22/22•

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Penn State receiver Malick Meiga runs for a score against Rutgers. (Photo Credit: BWI/Steve Manuel)

Penn State wideout Malick Meiga trended up for most of 2021.

After a redshirt rookie season in 2020, Meiga suffered a few injury setbacks that kept him out of Penn State’s first six games.

By the time Week Eight rolled around, though, Meiga began earning snaps. He played in the final seven games of the season, including 22 snaps in the Outback Bowl after star wideout Jahan Dotson opted out.

The high water mark came against Rutgers, when Meiga found himself wide open on a crossing pattern, going 67 yards untouched for a touchdown. He finished the year with three receptions for 78 yards.

“I think, really, the ceiling is extremely high,” Penn State wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield said last season.

“His ceiling is high because of the physical and mental attributes that he has where he can be a deep ball threat. He can go up and get it.”

The late-season progression combined with the obvious physical gifts make Meiga an intriguing player to watch this offseason. The idea that he began football later than usual — taking up the sport in eighth grade — and is still adjusting to the American game after playing his high school ball in Quebec supports the idea that there’s plenty of upside to tap into.

At 6-foot-4, he is the tallest wide receiver on Penn State’s roster heading into the new season, too.

Now, it’s about refining his craft.

“Always gotta improve my route running,” Meiga said when asked Saturday about his offseason focus. “I really gotta stay low in my routes, all that type of stuff, just stay on the same page as the quarterbacks. We be throwing a lot. I think we’re about to take an extra step, and that’s the step we were missing.

“It’s been going pretty good. We’re working hard, and we’re just trying to get better.”

Dotson’s departure certainly leaves a production void at wide receiver for the Nittany Lions to fill.

Penn State added Western Kentucky standout Mitchell Tinsley in the transfer portal. Four wideouts joined in the Nittany Lions’ 2022 recruiting class, too. On3 Consensus four-star Kaden Saunders headlines that group, ranked as the No. 101 overall prospect in the cycle.

Despite those additions, the Nittany Lions don’t have another wide receiver on next season’s roster who is listed as taller than 6-foot-2. In fact, Jaden Dottin is the only other scholarship option taller than 6-foot-1.

Meiga can give Penn State something different if he can position himself well with a good offseason. He’s claimed ‘Competitor of the Day’ honors at wide receiver for two of the Nittany Lions’ five on-field winter workouts so far. That’s a good start.

“You look at his body, you’re talking about one of the taller receivers that we have…one of the faster guys on our roster,” Penn State coach James Franklin said last season. “I think he’s got a chance to develop into a real vertical threat, maybe more so than we’ve had really in a number of years. That’s something we need.”

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