Penn State Football: Position grades versus Wisconsin
By Dylan Burd
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
The wide receiver position has been the unit that’s been on the hot seat for underperforming all season, and it’s been interesting to see the changes made every week. You’re finally starting to see the new receivers take over more and more each week.
True freshman Jahan Dotson led the team in receiving yards with 39 on two receptions. Right behind him was redshirt freshman K.J Hamler, who had five receptions for 35 yards. Hamler was nominated for the Paul Hornung Award last week, given to the most versatile player in college football. Saquon Barkley won the award last season.
Senior DeAndre Thompkins also had a solid performance, catching five passes for 31 yards and a touchdown. Cam Sullivan-Brown also had a catch for nine yards.
The most exciting part of the day for the wide receiving corp was seeing Justin Shorter make his first catch as a Nittany Lion, even though it only went for three yards. Shorter was the best-ranked wide receiver in the nation’s 2018 recruiting class, but has battled injury for most of the season. It was great to see him out there on the field, and I expect him to play a role going forward this season.
In terms of tight ends, true freshman Pat Freiermuth continued his impressive season, catching three passes for 34 yards. Freiermuth is definitely ahead of where Gesicki was in his freshman season terms of development, so we’ll see if he can continue it going forward.
Other than a drop or two, there were no major mistakes for the wide receivers in this game, which is huge to see, especially in the conditions they faced Saturday.