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Penn State Football: Juwan Johnson 2017 regular season rewind

By Collin Wieder

EVANSTON, IL - OCTOBER 07: Juwan Johnson #84 of the Penn State Nittany Lions is hit by Montre Hartage #24 of the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field on October 7, 2017 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
EVANSTON, IL - OCTOBER 07: Juwan Johnson #84 of the Penn State Nittany Lions is hit by Montre Hartage #24 of the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field on October 7, 2017 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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Penn State football’s passing game wouldn’t have progressed as quickly without Juwan Johnson. The sophomore progressed well and compiled a great season.

Hype surrounded Penn State football’s offense before the season started, but the team still needed a receiver to take over Chris Godwin’s production.

Although the team couldn’t replace him with one player, it did get one physical receiver to aid the transition. Juwan Johnson started the year as a rising target that shined in the spring game. However, his skills went untapped as a freshman due to a deep receiving core. In his sophomore campaign, the Nittany Lions called on him to make the jump to the big time.

In a short amount of time the 6-foot-4, 226-pound, sculpted wide out answered that call. Although he hadn’t seen much time, people knew about his blossoming talent as a four-star wide out in high school. His stout physique dominated smaller corners and not much changed in college.

In his first three games he caught just seven passes. However, he busted out against Iowa. Trace McSorley found him on crossing patterns and the brave wide out went over the middle hauling in seven passes for 92 yards and the game-winning touchdown catch.

Including that game, Johnson caught 41 passes for 530 yards over the next nine games. His work over the middle provided a bigger option for McSorley. DaeSean Hamilton led this team in receiving, and he deserves a lot of credit for improving the passing game. With that said, he doesn’t play with the same size advantage of Johnson.

McSorley stands at just 6-feet tall, so bigger targets are always helpful. When targeting players downfield the last two years, he needed someone who could go up and get the ball. Godwin did that. This year, Johnson didn’t pick up the 50-50 job, as that fell more to Mike Gesicki. Nevertheless, Penn State football needed a wide out that could absorb hits and keep on ticking. (Video Courtesy of Nittany Nation).

The best part about Johnson’s season is that he’s just a sophomore. Penn State gets him for at least one more season and that’s a plus for McSorley and the offense. He’s likely to be the No. 1 wide out next year so expect big things from him in the bowl game and beyond.

FINAL STATS: 48 catches, 635 yards, one touchdown, 13.2 yards per reception.

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