Young talent and an impressive 2022 recruiting haul has Penn State wide receiver coach Taylor Stubblefield excited about what's to come.
On Saturday, after his team mustered just 17 points in a loss to Michigan, Penn State head coach James Franklin talked about his team's need to find more play makers outside of Biletnikoff semifinalist Jahan Dotson.
Franklin walked the statement back a bit when he met with media members on Tuesday for his weekly availability, saying he was more focused on the lack of big plays in the run game, but the question of who steps up in Dotson's absence next season still looms large.
Fast forward to Thursday and Penn State wide receiver coach Taylor Stubblefield's media availability and that answer becomes a bit more clear, sort of. After coming on board in 2020 as a hire that was largely panned, Stubblefield has succeeded on and off the field for the Nittany Lions. On the field, he's been significant in the progression of Dotson and sophomore wide receivers Parker Washington and KeAndre Lambert-Smith. Off it, he's help Penn State land one of the nation's top wide receiver classes in 2022, with Kaden Saunders, Anthony Ivey and Tyler Johnson all in the fold. Athletes Mehki Flowers, Cristian Driver and Omari Evans could well head to the wideout position as well, though the first two may project more as safety down the line.
While Washington has been, by far, the more productive of the two aforementioned sophomore wide receivers, Stubblefield says he believes Lambert-Smith is equally ready to be a significant part of the offense in 2022. In fact, he cited Dotson's career progression for an apt parallel.
"Let's talk about Jahan's (career) real quick," Stubblefield said. "Jahan, his first year, was a contributor. His second year he was more of contributor, and then his third and fourth have panned out pretty well."
“A lot of times (with) big-time recruits they have high expectations, or they just have expectations, or others have expectations. When you get to be new into a college program, there are sometimes these expectations where you think you’re going to have that NFL career right off, right from your first season...If you think about it, I think his numbers are right around where Jahan’s were as a sophomore.”
Through 10 games this season, Lambert-Smith has 28 catches for 419 yards and two touchdowns. Dotson, meanwhile, had 27 receptions for 488 yards and five scores on 13 games in his 2019 sophomore season.
Another second-year wide receiver who's received a lot of publicity recently is Canadian import Malick Meiga. Meiga, who made his first career reception against Maryland, missed most of 2020 due to injury but has turned heads this year on the road back. Unlike Washington and Lambert-Smith, he presents an imposing physical presence at 6-foot-4, 200 pounds. The redshirt freshman has seen increasing playing time as well as praise for his teammates and coaches in recent weeks.
“I think, really, the ceiling is extremely high,” Stubblefield said of the still relatively green Meiga. "...His ceiling is high because of the physical and mental attributes that he has where he can be a deep ball threat. He can go up and get it.”
True freshmen Tre Wallace and Liam Clifford also got brief mentions as players Stubblefield thinks could make an impact going forward.
Looking even further forward, Stubblefield couldn't comment on 2022 commits directly, but said that he's excited about working with the players he has coming in.
"I think this class has been a very unique and special class, quite frankly," he said. "We're excited about the class. As far as movement, or room, we have a philosophy that we're never going to pass up on a great player. So if there's a great player, we're going to find a way to make it happen."
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