Penn State receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield talks Kaden Saunders, Harrison 'Tre' Wallace, and more

Penn State starts the 2022 season with high hopes for its pass catchers. But, just one day before the opener at Purdue, the Lions have questions to answer in receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield’s room.

There are many reasons to feel good about leading returning receiver Parker Washington. Transfer Mitchell Tinsley has lit up the practice field so far after a productive 2021 season at Western Kentucky, as well. After that pair, though, the group is long on potential but light on production. It’s something Stubblefield touched on during a chat with reporters on Tuesday while also noting his belief in the unit ahead of the fall.

“I’m excited to see this group this season,” Stubblefield said. “Because you know, it’s a little bit like 2020, in terms of what the room was expected to do, which was, we didn’t know. I’m excited to see some of the new faces out there fight their tails off, to do their part, to be 1-0.”

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Three players jump off the depth chart when it comes to which Penn State players can step up this season. The first is third-year Nittany Lion KeAndre Lambert-Smith. He is expected to be the team’s No. 3 receiver after hauling in 34 receptions for 521 yards and three touchdowns. But, he must be more consistent game in and game out.

“KeAndre had a pretty good camp,” Stubblefield said. “He continues to grow on the mental side of things. He is extremely talented, he has great hands, he has good size, he has good speed, great speed, actually. When his number is called, we have to make sure, he has to make sure, that nothing stands in his way. When there’s a play that’s called for him, he needs to execute. And there’s no excuses. There’s no ‘I didn’t see the signal.’ There’s none of that. And, he has done a good job of this fall camp of eliminating the obvious mistakes and eliminating those.

“Because, when you eliminate the obvious mistakes, you put yourself in position to make that big play. And he has the ability on some of the most simplest plays, to turn them into explosive plays. And even on some of those simple plays, to maybe not make it so simple. But his playmaking factor is high. And I’m excited to see him this season.”

Next up is Malick Meiga. He’s hoping to take a history of strong practice field play onto the game field this fall.

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“Malick Meiga is a specimen, man,” Stubblefield said. “He looks the part, he has the speed, he has the want to and the desire. Malick has really worked hard on being more consistent. That’s one thing that we challenged him on in terms of his ball-catching ability is to Ok, not everybody’s going to catch every ball. But, when something does not happen, to be able to shut the door, and then move forward so that you don’t let, like in golf, one bad shot lead to two bad shots.

“And so he’s working on being consistent.”

Finally, we’ll spotlight Harrison Wallace. He goes by “Tre” and is aiming to showcase his extreme athleticism as a key member of the rotation in year two.

“Tre’s stock has improved,” Stubblefield said. “And, it’s improved over a lot of hard work. Last year, if you looked at what Tre was doing, when he first came in here, you would have thought, man, he’s got tons of potential, but he’s a long, long ways away from even playing in the game. And so, he’s worked his tail off. The bowl prep was huge for him. He got a ton of extra reps. Spring ball was huge for him. I think he also realized, which most of the guys do, and they underestimated in the whole recruiting process, how much time really does need to be devoted to your craft, especially at the receiver position. And so he took that time.

“He has demonstrated that he is going to be prepared. Where he falls in terms of how many reps he’s going to get, or if he’s going to start, or if he’s not going to start, we’ll still see. I just know he’ll be in the rotation.”

An update on Lions freshman Kaden Saunders

Stubblefield was also asked to discuss freshman Kaden Saunders. The 5-foot-10, 178-pound former four-star was aided by enrolling early.

“It’s such an advantage to be able to come in early and be a part of a program,” Stubblefield said. “You get to learn offense, you get to be in the weight room. You get to learn how to practice, you get to learn how to finish.

“Kaden, in the spring, was far behind on what our standard here in terms of how we practice, how we work. He was far behind. He closed that gap considerably over spring, and over summer workouts, and fall camp. Now, he has put himself in position to potentially be in the rotation. We’ll see what it is.”

“What I’ve appreciated about Kaden is, the things that I’ve asked him to fix, he may not like hearing about it at the time, but he digests it. And, he tries to go fix it. So that’s what I really appreciate about him. And that’s what’s going to make him different down the road, is, he’s not going to get emotional about it and say, ‘Oh, coach is picking on me.’ He’s going to hear the message and say, ‘alright, I need to fix it’.