There was no quieter area of Penn State’s locker room than where the wide receivers were sitting. After the Nittany Lions’ College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Notre Dame, reporters were allowed access to the locker room for 20 minutes of interviews. And in those final seconds, Harrison Wallace III, Omari Evans and Co. looked like they wanted to be anywhere else.
And who could blame them? After hugging teammates and consoling one another, what else was there to say? Penn State had just fallen short of playing for the national championship. The Nittany Lions were a few plays away from beating the Irish at Hard Rock Stadium. And of those plays that could have been made, Penn State’s wide receivers didn’t make any of them.
The receivers didn’t account for a catch in Penn State’s 27-24 loss. Days later, news broke that Wallace and Evans, Penn State’s leading wideouts in 2024, will enter the transfer portal.
And Wallace and Evans aren’t the only Penn State receivers looking elsewhere. Tyler Johnson and Mehki Flowers, a pair of reserves, are also no longer with the team.
So, what does this receiver exodus mean for Penn State in 2025? Let’s break it down.
What they’re losing
Let’s first look at what Wallace and Evans brought to the table. Wallace had 720 yards and four touchdowns on 46 receptions. Wallace’s yards, while a team-high for receivers, ranked 13th in the Big Ten and outside the top 100 nationally. Evans had 21 catches for 415 yards and five scores. Of his 415 yards, 197 came on four catches.
Both receivers are skilled. Wallace’s leaping ability is freakish while Evans is a burner. At times, play-caller Andy Kotelnicki was able to put them in a position to succeed. But neither Wallace nor Evans were consistent enough for Drew Allar. Wallace had a five-game stretch with no more than three catches per game. Evans had a seven-game stretch with one catch or nothing at all.
A part of that was Penn State’s reliance on Tyler Warren, Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. But there were also times Wallace and Evans — really all the receivers — just disappeared.
In losses to Ohio State and Notre Dame, the receivers had three catches for 49 yards total. They had two catches through three quarters in the Big Ten championship vs. Oregon. In last year’s Peach Bowl, they didn’t make a catch until the fourth quarter.
I’m sure James Franklin and his staff would have liked to keep Wallace and Evans. But perhaps a fresh start was best for all parties involved — especially now that Wallace and Evans get to enter the portal at a time when receiver help is scarce.
What they’re bringing back
Right now, Penn State has three receivers remaining on its roster who caught passes in 2024: Liam Clifford (18), Tyseer Denmark (2) and Anthony Ivey (1). That’s it.
Wallace and Evans are taking 69.2% of the wide receiver yardage with them. Julian Fleming is out of eligibility. Flowers and Johnson weren’t factors, but now they’re gone, too.
Maybe Denmark, after getting involved a bit as a true freshman, blossoms. Maybe Clifford develops into a legitimate slot option. Maybe rising senior Kaden Saunders, who was hampered by injuries this season, fulfills the blue-chip potential he had coming out of high school.
Or maybe Penn State will instead lean heavily on newcomers.
What they’re bringing in
Penn State secured two wide receivers via the winter transfer portal: USC’s Kyron Hudson and Troy’s Devonte Ross. Hudson showed flashes of brilliance with the Trojans and finished the 2024 season with 38 catches for 462 yards and three touchdowns. Ross played at a lower level but lit up the Sun Belt Conference with 1,043 yards and 11 scores on 76 catches.
Even with Ross and Hudson, who are expected to come in and perform, Penn State would like to add another receiver or two via the portal. There are still options out there who entered during the now-closed winter window. Players on Ohio State and Notre Dame will have until the end of next week to put their names in, if Penn State was looking to poach a target from the national title game. Otherwise, the Nittany Lions will have to wait until the spring.
And hey, maybe one of the new signees will step up. Penn State added Matthew Outten, Jeff Exinor, Koby Howard and Lyrick Samuel in the 2025 recruiting cycle.
What this says about Penn State
Obviously, it’s a massive concern that the receiver position has been an ongoing issue for Penn State. The program that produced Jahan Dotson, KJ Hamler, Chris Godwin and Parker Washington hasn’t had anyone like them over the last two seasons.
That falls on everyone. It falls on the players. And it falls on the coaches — especially both wide receiver coaches. Taylor Stubblefield was fired in January 2023 and was later hired by Air Force, a team that features a triple-option offense. Marques Hagans was hired away from Virginia ahead of the 2023 season, and the results haven’t been much better.
A big reason why Penn State is in the position it’s in right now is the lack of development. Take a look at the 2022 recruiting class. That group has been the backbone of Penn State’s recent success. Abdul Carter, Drew Allar, Singleton, Allen, Dani Dennis-Sutton, you name it. The players in that class, peaking at the right time and developing into stars as juniors, were integral in putting Penn State so close to the national championship game.
That 2022 recruiting class also had five receivers in it: Evans, Johnson, Ivey, Saunders and Flowers, who arrived as a two-way player and later switched from defense to offense. Out of those five, only Evans has made a meaningful impact, and only two are still with the team.
For a program that hangs its hat on development, that’s an indictment of everyone involved.
