A look at Penn State's WR room post Lambert-Smith and Meiga departures

Over the past two days, Penn State has seen the departure of a pair of wide receivers in KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Malick Meiga.

The departures come at a time when Penn State's wide receiver room is under the proverbial microscope and face a multitude of questions surrounding the room's overall talent, proficiency, and potential.

It's no secret that the Nittany Lions' wide receiver room in 2023 received a large chunk of the criticism coming from outside the program surrounding the Nittany Lions' lack of explosive passing plays.

Last offseason, in hopes of helping replace the likes of Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley, the Nittany Lions went out and nabbed Kent State standout Dante Cephas out of the transfer portal.

Prior to arriving at Penn State, Cephas had recorded 145 receptions for 2,139 yards and 12 touchdowns for the Flashes. His time at Penn State would end up not even closely resembling his time at Kent State.

During his brief time within the program, Cephas seemingly struggled to grasp the Nittany Lions playbook and never found cohesion with quarterback Drew Allar.

The end result was just 22 receptions for 246 yards and two touchdowns. Cephas would enter the transfer portal this past December before ultimately landing at Kansas State where he'll hope to finish his collegiate career on a high note.

The Nittany Lions last offseason also brought in Florida State transfer Malik McClain, who unlike Cephas remains with the program.

McClain started off his Penn State career on a high note in 2023 with a four reception, 58-yard and one touchdown performance against West Virginia in the program's season opener. He would catch two passes over the next two games against Delaware and Illinois. However, in that game against Illinois, he also had a few drops. After recording six receptions for 71 yards in the first three games of the 2023 season, McClain would not record another reception over the program's next 10 games

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Ultimately, neither the additions of Cephas or McClain made the impact that James Franklin and then first-year wide receivers coach Marques Hagans had hoped either would make with the program. But as noted above, McClain will have a second opportunity to make an impact as he remains on the Nittany Lions roster.

That being said, the Nittany Lions this week said goodbye to their leading receiver from 2023 in KeAndre Lambert-Smith.

The Virginia native and former four-star recruit led the Nittany Lions last season with 53 receptions for 673 yards and four touchdowns. Through the program's first nine games, Lambert-Smith recorded at least three receptions in each game and had six games of at-least six receptions. However, starting with the program's loss to Michigan on November 11, Lambert-Smith would record just two receptions for 28-yards over the Nittany Lions' final four games including their Peach Bowl loss to Ole Miss.

Malick Meiga, a special teams ace for the program, also said goodbye on Tuesday. His departure will be felt more on the special teams facet of the game for the Nittany Lions rather than the offensive side of the ball. The native of Quebec had just nine receptions for 106 yards and one touchdown in his four years with the program.

With their departures, Penn State is left in 2024 with just four receivers (not including tight ends) who recorded a reception in 2023. Those being Harrison Wallace III, Malik McClain, Liam Clifford, Omari Evans, and Kaden Saunders.

The program did notably add this offseason, former five-star prospect and Ohio State wide receiver Julian Fleming. The Catawissa, Pennsylvania native enters his time in Happy Valley with 79 career receptions for 963 yards and seven touchdowns.

With that, let's take a closer look at Penn State's wide receiver room entering the summer, at least as things stand right now.