WR Jaden Dottin Eager to Continue his Career at Penn State

Of the 11 players in the Class of 2020 who enrolled at Penn State in January, you would be hard-pressed to find one with more to gain from that decision than wide receiver Jaden Dottin.

A native of Cambridge, Mass., Dottin began his high school career at nearby Arlington High School before making the decision to not only change schools, but to leave the state. He ultimately ended up at Suffield Academy, a boarding school in Connecticut. So unlike his fellow classmates who enrolled with him last month, Dottin already knows what it’s like to live on his own.

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On the field, there’s no denying his skill, either. Among the wide receivers in this year’s class, he’s one of the best at going up and getting the ball.

“There’s so much that I love about Jaden,” Suffield Academy head coach Andrew Gamere said. “His combination of speed and length is what made him so attractive to all of the schools that pursued him. He’s able to go up and get the ball with the best of them. I think that clearly distinguished Jaden. He’s just a terrific target to throw to for any quarterback. For his size, he has some burst, too. We saw him run away from defenders a few times this year. I think that’s an area where he really improved over the past year.”

However, if Dottin is going to make an impact in the Big Ten, there’s one thing he has to do first: put on weight. At 6-foot-2, his length is ideal, but at just 170 pounds, Dottin needs to bulk up before he goes across the middle against a team like Ohio State. Gamere said that shouldn’t be a problem. Not only was Dottin one of his team’s hardest workers, but he showed consistent improvement in all areas during his three years at Suffield.

“Jaden showed tremendous growth during his time here,” Gamere said. “He emerged as a leader, particularly this past season. ... He also really improved academically during his time here, which I know we’re all really proud of. He works hard, so I really think all of that is going to help him now that he’s on [Penn State’s] campus.”

Dottin may need some time to transition, but that didn’t keep schools from pursuing him aggressively. Before he committed to the Nittany Lions in June 2019, he earned 15 scholarship offers. Duke, Michigan, Purdue and Syracuse all earned at least one unofficial visit each, but by the time Dottin saw those schools, he had already taken three trips to University Park.

“Jaden drew a lot of interest from a lot of really good schools, but I think one of his early visits to Penn State left a really strong impression on not just him, but his entire family,” Gamere said. “I remember he went up there and camped with their coaches and earned an offer from them. He showed them what he was all about that day, and I think he really grew to love their coaches and the program as a whole. He went up there twice last summer and I think after that, to some degree, Penn State should have been considered the frontrunner. It was going to be on those other schools to knock Penn State down the list. They set the bar high.”

Dottin was primarily recruited by former wide receivers coach Gerad Parker and regional recruiter Sean Spencer. The three-star prospect was preparing for his move to University Park when he learned that Parker, his prospective position coach, would be leaving to become the offensive coordinator at West Virginia. Later, it was announced that Spencer, too, was moving on, having accepted an offer to join the New York Giants’ staff.

However, as Gamere explained, Dottin’s relationship with the entire Penn State coaching staff, plus everything else the school had to offer, is why he wanted to be a Nittany Lion.

“When he went on those first couple of visits, he got to know basically their entire staff,” Gamere explained. “I also know that when he talked to them, it wasn’t like he just talked to Coach Parker or just talked to Coach Franklin. They did a great job making sure he was comfortable with everyone. ... Jaden went about this process the right away. He looked into everything. This wasn’t just about the coaches or just about football. His decision was about everything Penn State had for him.”

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