How are Penn State's two true freshmen WRs progressing in camp so far?
In his first college football season, Parker Washington stepped up to help lead Penn State's receivers room alongside veteran Jahan Dotson.
Will a freshman, or maybe even two, follow in his footsteps a year later?
The Nittany Lions had plans to bring in three newcomers in the Class of 2021, but Liam Clifford and Harrison Wallace III are the only ones who made it to town after Lonnie White Jr., opted to play pro baseball instead.
How is that pair faring during their first summer camp?
Two authoritative sources on the topic, position coach Taylor Stubblefield and Washington, offered insight following practice on Wednesday night as the team sits about two weeks from kickoff.
"They're getting to a ton of reps, they're getting better." Stubblefield told reporters on a ZOOM call.
Neither player made it to campus for spring ball, but Wallace III arrived a tad bit earlier than his classmate back in May.
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Montgomery, Ala., product shined on both the football and basketball courts at Pike Road High School before coming to State College, and he's known for his explosion along with a great pair of hands.
"Harrison is a player who is extremely athletic," Stubblefield said. "You could tell by his highlight film and what he did on the basketball court, so it's just about really trying to fine-tune his skill development as a wide receiver.
"We're really trying to work on that, along with a lot of plays that you got to learn. It's like a foreign language, and you got to try to pick it up and pick it up fairly quickly."
While Clifford, who is 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, showed up a little bit later than his peers, he had the advantage of learning the Penn State way from and working out with his brother, starting quarterback Sean, after his own standout prep career at St. Xavier High School in Ohio.
"Liam, you know, he's a very focused, young man who works his tail off," Stubblefield said.
"The faster you can pick up the offense, the sooner you know what to do, and then once you know what to do, then we can work on how you do it, and so we're still in that process where he's learning what to do so that we can try to fine-tune and get to the part of how well you do it."
Washington knows a thing or two about that process, of course, and also how to speed it up, considering the fact that he caught 36 passes for 489 yards and six touchdowns throughout his first nine games in blue and white.
"Not so long ago, I was in their same shoes," Washington said. "Coming in, it's a big adjustment from high school to college ball, and I feel like, having to learn the playbook, and like I said, for me, it was brand new, just like them, so in the meeting room, [Stubblefield's] pushing them to understand everything in-depth like our veteran guys know it.
"He's just pushing them to that next step in their development."
As for the million-dollar question, which is of course whether or not either Wallace III or Clifford play will see significant time this fall, it's still too early to say, as each will need to mesh the mental and physical demands of playing in the Big Ten before serious game reps are awarded.
All each can do for now is work in the right direction, and Stubblefield believes both players are.
"Both of them are having a really good camp," he said.
"They're getting a lot of snaps, they're improving every day. I'm excited to see just their growth throughout fall camp, and then just throughout the season."
*******
• Talk about this article inside The Lions Den
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Sign up for our daily newsletter and breaking news alerts
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue-White Illustrated
• Follow us on Twitter: @BWIonRivals, @NateBauerBWI, @RivalsSnyder, @DavidEckert98, @GregPickel, @ThomasFrankCarr
• Follow us on Instagram
• Like us on Facebook