KJ Hamler has made NFL choice, but won't reveal it until after Cotton Bowl
KJ Hamler is always keeping everyone guessing.
With his moves on the field and with his words off of it, Hamler has cultivated a habit of amicable unpredictability throughout his time at Penn State, turning him into a favorite among Nittany Lion fans.
And now, having made a decision as to whether he’ll stay for his redshirt junior season or leave for the NFL draft, Hamler wasn’t about to deviate from his course.
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“I know what I’m doing,” he said, before explaining his reasoning for being guarded about his choice.
“It was mostly just having the focus with the team. I don’t want to be a distraction toward the team. People are asking me every day, ‘KJ, what are you doing? Are you leaving?’ I’ve got people asking me back home, my friends, I haven’t told anybody a lot. I didn’t want this to be about me. This is a team thing. We’re going to the Cotton Bowl as a team. This is not just KJ Hamler going to the Cotton Bowl.”
He’ll announce his choice after the Nittany Lions take on Memphis on December 28, he said.
Hamler finished sixth in the Big Ten this season with 858 receiving yards, nearly double the yardage produced by the next closest Nittany Lion in 2019. Tight end Pat Freiermuth finished with 468 yards through the air.
Over his two-year playing career with Penn State, Hamler has accumulated 1,612 total yards and 13 touchdowns in the passing game, adding another score and 73 yards on the ground. He’s also proved dangerous in the kick return game.
While the various NFL mock draft punditry throughout sports media certainly contains a fair amount of sheer conjecture, Hamler has been a tough player for analysts to agree on. One mock from Fansided projected him at No. 29 overall, another from CBS had Hamler at No. 58, and other mocks yet make no mention of Penn State’s shifty slot receiver.
Like always, James Franklin is working with Hamler — and other draft eligible players who remain undecided — to decide which path is best.
“Right when the regular season ends, I set up meetings with all of those guys and their parents,” Franklin said, “and we put an extensive amount of work in on projections of where they think they are based on conversations with GMs and scouts and all those types of things, so we put all of that together for them.
“Some guys are ready to make that decision, and that meeting pushes them in one direction or the other.”
Hamler is a willing listener, but also feels independent enough to make his own call.
“I don’t really like to ask for help, I like to make decisions on my own,” he said. “I’m 20 years old now, I’m not 17-year-old KJ who came in here with a limp and a messed up knee. As a grown man, I’ve got to make grown man decisions.”
The decision making process became a little more stressful than Hamler may have originally thought, comparing it to when he was in high school and trying to decide which college he would attend to continue his football career.
He kept writing down the positives and negatives. Listing the pros of staying at Penn State, Hamler mentioned another year with Sean Clifford, who he said has been the most persistent of his teammates pushing him to stay.
Hamler says his call is made, though, and there’s another week and the Cotton Bowl before he reveals it to the world — and he isn’t taking that for granted
“It’s a New Years Six bowl,” Hamler said. “So everybody should be excited.”
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