My guess, Liam Clifford. I like what I've seen from him, in his limited action. I think he steps up this week with Parker out, and time to prepare for this bowl game.
Which returning WR will step up in the Rose Bowl, leading to momentum for next year?
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It needs to be KLS. He has shown flashes of what he is capable of. he needs to break out and be more consistent.
I like Liam as well as a clutch move the chains guy. He appears to run crisp routes and catches well.
I like #18 as well. Shows a real quick first step.
I like #18 as well. Shows a real quick first step.
I said that same thing about Parker Washington who also runs in the 4.4's. I think Clifford has a great Rose Bowl and leads the slots in to next year. Add some outside guys that don't stink and I think Allar will be set for next year.
But to answer the original questions: I will also go with Clifford.
How about the WR recruits from the Class of 2022?
Who steps up and when?
Who steps up and when?
He has had his chances and is what he is at this point. Has he ever caught a 50/50 ball?
Tyler Johnson will get passed rather quickly. If we don't see anything from Saunders and Ivey after next year then they two run the risk of being passed up. Evans showed some flashes on the deep ball but I don't remember anything else he did receiving wise.
My instinct is that Clifford has good hands but not elite speed. We haven't seen him have to fight for 50/50 balls.
I'm disappointed that we haven't seen more of Saunders because he was a high 4* recruit. He was buried deep on the depth chart so I assume he's not ready. Based on 2022 appearances and production it has to be Smith & Wallace.
One benefit of a bowl game is to give additional practice time that can carry over to the following season.
We sometimes get feedback about which redshirted players are progressing well in this practice period -- hope to hear more about that in the next few weeks.
I know he has had some drops, but he has also shown a burst a few times that I have not seen from any of the other receivers.
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I said that the same thing after Washington stopped playing. After all, KC's best wide receiver actually is their tight end, and the same goes for the Steelers.
I will go with whomever can become a deep threat. Speed helps but you don't need to be Bob Hayes to get behind defenses - see Jerry Rice and his 4.7 speed scoring repeatedly on passes where he's behind the defenders. We need the deep ball threat to open it up for TEs, slot guys and backs. Deep threat also makes you play more zone.
Jerry Rice played in a very different time period when 4.5 was elite speed. Now 4.3 is elite, 4.4 is expected and 4.6 would never even be drafted. Players today are much bigger and faster
Passed up by who?
They are at the bottom of the depth chart right now and there is no one there behind them.
Driver just started practicing at WR so it seems unlikely that he would pass up the 2022 WR recruits that have focused on WR and practiced at WR all season, and some since last winter. Same goes for the 2021 WR's.
I don't see any hope for young WR's to emerge except the 2022 WR's, incluiding Driver. The best hope for an improved 2023 WR group is a combo of a WR or two from the 2021 and 2022 WR recruits improving to be contributors and a couple incoming transfers hitting the ground running as part of the starting WR's. Maybe a WR such as Sanders will make a Joey Porter like leap from redshirting to next year starter, but that seems somewhat unlikely.
It would be great if Franklin and Stubblefield could add an impact 2023 class WR but that seems unlikely at this point as well. Longer term fix seems to be a continued influx of transfers and Franklin and Stubblefield getting a couple of top 100 WR's in the 2024 class which may be a pipe dream.....
Do we have a WR recruiting issue? Or is it lack of development? Can Stubblefield recruit?
I have no problem with that. The TEs are excellent.
Not sure who steps up at WR, but I was impressed with Clifford in his limited time.
Well, compared to RB recruiting it's night and day. Franklin and Stubblefield seem to get mainly high 3 and low 4 star WR recruits, in comparison to oh-high-ya state bringing in top 10 position WR's pretty much every year.
Some would say "stars" aren't everything, as ARob was a 2 star. But lately there have been no ARob's...... Bad luck, evaluation misses? who knows. But PSU did not have enough playmakers at WR in 2022 and unless Franklin and Stubblefield hit the jackpot in the portal the 2023 WR group looks about the same or worse with both Tinsley and Washington moving on.
A comcern I have had this year is Saunders. He was a high 4 star, I think close to a 5 star and he is buried on the depth chart. If he was as good as we all thought he should have seen some PT. He needs to step up next year in a big way. I would think he should start but maybe it is one of these evaluation misses. We also missed on the guy who chose baseball, that hurt. It would be great to get a guy with size like another Godwin. We thought that could be Justin Shorter but that did not pan out.
The passing offense revolved through 3 WRs and 3 TEs (not discussing the RBs, leaving them out). It's a lot to ask of a true freshman to beat out Washington, who isn't a blazer but runs great routes and has excellent hands, and Tinsley, who was simply an older player with a decent skill set.
They give multiple players a chance at the 3rd spot. KLS and Wallace being the 2 who saw the most snaps. To think our WR room is terrible because true freshman didn't contribute is absurd. Perhaps only 1 or 2 develop into contributing players, but that's typical.
Our coaches are mining through portal guys better than last year. That's a positive.
They give multiple players a chance at the 3rd spot. KLS and Wallace being the 2 who saw the most snaps. To think our WR room is terrible because true freshman didn't contribute is absurd. Perhaps only 1 or 2 develop into contributing players, but that's typical.
Our coaches are mining through portal guys better than last year. That's a positive.
Yeah, Lonnie White, Jr. was the player deciding between PSU and Baseball; got a $1.5 Million signing bonus with the Pirates. Really liked him as an athletic, good-sized WR. For what it's worth, he was injured most of the 2022 baseball season.
Remember John Dunmore. 4 Star, 5.9 ranked the #14 WR in the country. Never panned out at PSU' transferred to Oregon State and still hasn't done much. You never can predict what some of these guys will do in D1.
Yep, interesting topic, Lonnie White. And the whole Pennsylvania 2021 recruiting class as well.
Franklin pretty much struck out in PA regarding the 2021 class. Maybe the PA class wasn't as good as advertised, but there's not much to show for it at PSU. Franklin only got commits from White, Bruce and Dinkins out of the top 20 players in PA for 2021. Only 2 made it to campus (minus White who opted for ML baseball), and with Bruce hanging it up early only Dinkins remained.
Regarding WR, Harrison went to oh-high-ya, and if he was at PSU we wouldn't have much concern about PSU's 2023 WR group.
A good many of the top 2021 PA players haven't set the world on fire where they went either. #1 in PA for 2021 Rucci I believe is still a backup. and #2 is riding the bench if he is still at oh-high-ya. Derrick Davis, D. McMillon and Jeudy, all top 10 are already in the portal. I believe Naki Johnson, #10, is at Pitt, but by way of jail.....
Some holes in the PSU roster due to the 2021 PA results.
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Franklin pretty much struck out in PA regarding the 2021 class. Maybe the PA class wasn't as good as advertised, but there's not much to show for it at PSU. Franklin only got commits from White, Bruce and Dinkins out of the top 20 players in PA for 2021. Only 2 made it to campus (minus White who opted for ML baseball), and with Bruce hanging it up early only Dinkins remained.
Regarding WR, Harrison went to oh-high-ya, and if he was at PSU we wouldn't have much concern about PSU's 2023 WR group.
A good many of the top 2021 PA players haven't set the world on fire where they went either. #1 in PA for 2021 Rucci I believe is still a backup. and #2 is riding the bench if he is still at oh-high-ya. Derrick Davis, D. McMillon and Jeudy, all top 10 are already in the portal. I believe Naki Johnson, #10, is at Pitt, but by way of jail.....
Some holes in the PSU roster due to the 2021 PA results.
2021 Top Football Recruits in Pennsylvania
The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal observations, film evaluation and input from our network of scouts.
247sports.com
He could run a 4.3 and on this board he'd be called slow because of his last name.
Hadn't realized that the 2021 PA class was panning out that poorly. Yikes!Yep, interesting topic, Lonnie White. And the whole Pennsylvania 2021 recruiting class as well.
Franklin pretty much struck out in PA regarding the 2021 class. Maybe the PA class wasn't as good as advertised, but there's not much to show for it at PSU. Franklin only got commits from White, Bruce and Dinkins out of the top 20 players in PA for 2021. Only 2 made it to campus (minus White who opted for ML baseball), and with Bruce hanging it up early only Dinkins remained.
Regarding WR, Harrison went to oh-high-ya, and if he was at PSU we wouldn't have much concern about PSU's 2023 WR group.
A good many of the top 2021 PA players haven't set the world on fire where they went either. #1 in PA for 2021 Rucci I believe is still a backup. and #2 is riding the bench if he is still at oh-high-ya. Derrick Davis, D. McMillon and Jeudy, all top 10 are already in the portal. I believe Naki Johnson, #10, is at Pitt, but by way of jail.....
Some holes in the PSU roster due to the 2021 PA results.
2021 Top Football Recruits in Pennsylvania
The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal observations, film evaluation and input from our network of scouts.
I think PSU'S WR recruiting problem is that every top 100 wr commits to Ohio St. Then several sit on the bench for a few years before they consider transferring to the SEC to become all Americans.
2 PA 5 star WRs have gone to Ohio St (or maybe Harrison was high 4 but is the best in college football right now). Our wr room would look different with even just those 2.
2 PA 5 star WRs have gone to Ohio St (or maybe Harrison was high 4 but is the best in college football right now). Our wr room would look different with even just those 2.
Would be nice to see him on the field...does the bowl game count like any other regular season game as far as affecting redshirt eligibility?
Yep, the 2021 PA recruits that PSU even got, and the 2021 PA class in general. Fortunately even with a so-so overall 2021 class Franklin did get Tengwall, Wheatley, the King brothers, Reed and a couple more that may eventually contribute more than they have so far such as Dinkins and Van den berg.
Exactly. It sure is a lot easier to build a WR group when you have a future NFL star anchoring the group. When other teams have to game plan to keep a player such as Harrison, ARob, Godwin.... from killing them it makes all the other WR's more open and available to make plays.
Even with Washington who may end up playing some in the NFL the 2022 PSU WR corps didn't seem to strike fear into any of the opponents whose defense had a pulse. Franklin and Stubblefield really need to hit a home run in the portal at WR to turn PSU's WR group around. Sure a player on the roster could make a dramatic improvement in the next 8 months, but that's somewhat of a crap shoot as if the staff saw that potential we likely would have at least have seen some glimpse of that ourselves against some of the crappy teams PSU beat up on the last few months.........
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Yes, it counts as a game played. Remember last year when Franklin had seemed to miscalculate and used up the 4 games for freshmen at some positions that had opt out's and he was short some depth in the bowl game?
I'd be thrilled is Sanders even had a few catches for 40 or 50 yards in the bowl game. Or they put him in to return some punts and he showed something..................
I would not hold your breath on a home run portal WR. I don't think they are out there. Maybe just maybe with Allar as the QB we get an elite guy who sees the potential but not banking on it. We absolutely need to develop who we have in house Saunders, Wallace, Clifford, Evans you name it to be a big time contributor for us. I am pretty excited by Liam Clifford from what I saw albeit a tiny sample size. He seems to have excellent hands, runs good routes, kinda shifty and decent size. Certainly not a speed guy but could be a really reliable possession guy for us. Would be clutch for Allar to have a go to guy on 3rd and 7-10.
Let's see how KLS does in the Rose Bowl. Maybe this is his first step to a breakout year in '23?
Maybe not "elite" but getting 2 WR's that are average or better in speed and can run routes and actually catch a football will lead to a big improvement, especially with a QB that can actually get a decent percentage of throws in the average catch radius of the WR's..........
No doubt Stubblefield is trying to develop the WR's on the roster. But if that was going great Franklin wouldn't be wooing every decent WR that is hitting the portal.........
Fortunately for PSU WR's that can make an impact seem to be the greatest in number position wise based upon the short history of the transfer portal, with this year looking that way as well.
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The answer is none. Franklin and Yurcich moving to 12 personnel this year (before Washington got hurt), despite both coaches strongly preferring 11 personnel suggests the entire crop on the roster are not able to contribute.
