No position group this offseason has been under more scrutiny for Penn State than the NIttany Lions wide receiver room. It's no secret at this point. The effort and production from the program's wide receiver room a year ago was disappointing.
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With that, James Franklin, his coaching staff, and players have at this point received more questions about the wide receiver room since the beginning of the offseason than any other topic and it's not even close.
To the credit of wide receivers coach Marques Hagans and his position group, all indications have been that Nittany Lions receivers have been taking a step forward this fall.
The latest indication came on Monday during James Franklin's weekly press conference as the Nittany Lions head coach previewed the program's upcoming season opener against the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday afternoon.
"I would probably say wide receiver," Franklin said on Monday when asked about what position groups he saw the most growth out of this offseason while also noting the quarterback and offensive line room also showing growth this offseason.
"I would say those three positions and really the three positions we needed to right? There's been a lot of energy poured into those positions, a lot of strategy about how to position those areas to be the most successful and so far I think you know what we've seen in training not just myself but really coaches on both sides of the ball, we all feel that way."
Later in his press conference, he asked more about the position and how many wide receivers he believes the Nittany Lions have ready to play this season.
Entering the season, Penn State appears to feel good about their top four wide receivers entering the season in Harrison Wallace III, Liam Clifford, Julian Fleming, and Kaden Saunders. Notably, the latter has been dealing with some bumps and bruises per James Franklin though the program 'hopes' to have him for Saturday's matchup.
However, beyond those four, the Nittany Lions depth at the position still has question marks. With just days before the season opener, James Franklin believes his program is close to where they need to be from a depth perspective at the position
"You would really like a two and half deep at every position," Franklin said. "I think at wide receiver when you talk about being an 11 personnel set, you're talking about two deep at two of the positions and then a swing guy in some ways and I think we're close to that."
In particular, it's a trio of third year wide receivers that have emerged in recent weeks for the program.
"I think if you look across the board, guys like Mehki Flowers, I think has really stepped up for us. I think Tyler Johnson has really stepped up for us. I think Anthony Ivey, has really stepped up for us and that is a critical group for us."
Despite those three all 'stepping up' in fall camp, it doesn't necessarily mean that they may be ready to go for this weekend's matchup against West Virginia.
"I'd like it to be for game one," Franklin said. "But the reality is, even if it could be for some of those guys in game three, and game four, and game five and that's a big discussion we had this morning as a staff meeting.
"We got to identify guys that we say okay, they may not be ready for whatever reason, physically, mentally, emotionally today but these guys we need them to be ready by game five of the season," he added. "So those are guys that I think really are going to need to step up for us but have shown enough you know that you're excited about what they're going to be."
There was one additional wide receiver Franklin added to the group as he finished his answer, "I would say Tyseer Denmark as a new play is in that conversation as well."
A summer enrollee, Denmark has only been on campus for a little over two months but the Philadelphia native has been flashing early on in his Penn State career during practices. While he didn't receive a green light on Monday from Franklin, there is still certainly a possibility that the former four-star receiver earns his way into frequent playing time this fall.
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