Penn State football spring positional outlook: Receivers

Penn State football spring positional outlook: Quarterback

Penn State football spring positional outlook: Running back

Replacing the second-highest productivity out of a receiver in Penn State history will be no small feat.

But in learning to do without Jahan Dotson, who is en route to a career in the NFL, the Nittany Lions will face that challenge this season.

The process to that adaptation will begin this spring, as Penn State welcomes the return of its second-leading receiver, Parker Washington, and a crucial offseason addition through the transfer portal, fifth-year Mitchell Tinsley. 

Here’s a deeper look at what receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield and Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich will have to work with this spring:

Penn State receivers scholarship roster

Mitchell Tinsley – 5th year

Parker Washington – 3rd year

KeAndre Lambert-Smith – 3rd year

Jaden Dottin – 3rd year

Malick Meiga – 3rd year

Liam Clifford – 2nd year

Harrison Wallace III – 2nd year

Kaden Saunders – 1st year

Omari Evans – 1st year

*Marquis Wilson – 4th year

Penn State receivers spring outlook

The only place to start is by acknowledging what Penn State won’t have this season.

In Dotson’s absence, Penn State will miss out on 42 games played, 183 receptions for 2,757 yards, and 25 touchdowns. It’ll miss his back-to-back seasons of more than 98 yards per game receiving. And it’ll miss, beyond the stat pages and record books, his maturity, leadership, and lights-out ball skills. 

In a college football landscape that naturally cycles through these types of players, their windows brief at this level, this much is expected. But it’s not any less diminished that, particularly for a Penn State offense coming off a dismally bland 2021 season, Dotson was among the few bright spots.

The question for Penn State this spring is twofold:

In Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley, does the program have a star receiver? Are either, or both, capable of replicating the type of production Dotson brought to the field? 

Or, maybe more likely, does Penn State have the horses to spread the wealth? Given Dotson’s 3:2:1 dynamic for season receptions against those of Washington and KeAndre Lambert-Smith, could Penn State settle into a successfully executed, balanced approach to the position?

Coming out of an Outback Bowl performance without Dotson, Penn State head coach James Franklin seemed to offer a hint at what his expectations are going to be, highlighting Washington’s seven receptions for 98 yards (on eight targets), and another three receptions for 74 yards for Lambert-Smith.

“Parker, I think you guys see, there’s a lot to be excited about in his future,” Franklin said. “He’s got tremendous ball skills, he’s smart, he can make people miss. He’s built more like a tailback than he is a running back, which I think helps him in a lot of different situations. 

“Coming in next year and to see Parker and KeAndre do some good things today, that’s going to be important because we’re losing a lot of production in Jahan Dotson.”

As Tinsley will hope to show this spring, his addition is likely to help resolve that loss in a big way.

In 14 games last season, for Western Kentucky’s prolific passing offense, Tinsley was a second-team All-Conference USA pick with 87 catches for 1,402 yards and 14 touchdowns. The effort backed up a 2020 campaign in which he notched 43 catches for 377 yards and four scores.

The unknowns

Beyond three vets, Penn State has a stable of candidates vying to break through with years under their belts.

Those years haven’t represented on-field production, though.

For Malick Meiga, Jaden Dottin, Tre Wallace, and Liam Clifford, and fourth-year, two-way player Marquis Wilson, prior opportunities have been limited.

Well down the chart listing targeted receivers last season, Penn State shows Meiga (7), Wilson (5), and Wallace (1). 

Battling through an early-season injury, Meiga appeared regularly through the final seven games, ultimately making three catches for 78 yards and a touchdown. Wilson hauled in three of his five targets for 29 yards. And Wallace wasn’t able to collect his single target in three games played during a redshirt year.

The newcomers

Returning starters looking to fill big shoes, and backups growing into more established roles, won’t be alone.

Joining the fray in January, early enrollees Kaden Saunders and Omari Evans will attempt to make an immediate impact. 

And Franklin’s initial early signing day assessment of Saunders suggests that expectations will be lofty. For the former On3 Consensus four-star with a No. 101 national ranking, the possibilities are for an immediate impact.

“(He has) tremendous character, tremendous playmaking ability,” Franklin said. “He kind of reminds me of a combination between maybe KJ and Jahan.”

With two months already under his belt, Saunders will get the opportunity to show as much this spring.

Walk-on notes

After spending the 2021 season as a backup quarterback, Mason Stahl has since relocated to receiver this offseason. 

Penn State also has two redshirt freshmen in the fold at the position. Jan Mahlert, who is originally from Germany, and Jason Estrella out of Liberty High in Bethlehem, Pa., will fill out the position.