Penn State Football 2019 Early Position Preview: Wide Receivers

Penn State’s wide receivers group will enter the 2019 season with several questions.

Aside from the quarterback position, there isn’t a doubt that the wide receiver position is the most intriguing for Penn State going into next season.

The Nittany Lions were among the nation’s leaders in dropped passes least season and as a result, wide receivers coach David Corley was fired. Duke’s wide receivers coach Gerad Parker was hired as a replacement for Corley shortly after.

However, it isn’t only the coaching change at the wide receiver position that’s going to be different in 2019. The personnel is vastly different from last season. It all starts with the departures of DeAndre Thompkins and Juwan Johnson, two starting wide receivers from last season.

DeAndre Thompkins was a senior, so he graduated and is now looking towards an opportunity from an NFL team. Thompkins had 25 receptions for 325 yards and two touchdowns during the 2018 season. He also chipped in on special teams by returning punts.

Juwan Johnson was a redshirt junior last season, and after only catching 25 passes for 352 yards and a touchdown in 2018, he chose to leave Penn State as a grad transfer. Johnson caught 54 passes for 701 yards and a touchdown in 2017, so his numbers were way down last season. Johnson will join Justin Herbert and Oregon for the 2019 season.

So who does that leave for Penn State’s wide receiver corp in 2019? It’s likely that KJ Hamler, Justin Shorter, and Jahan Dotson will be the three most featured receivers of next season.

Hamler wowed as a redshirt freshman last season catching 42 passes for 754 yards and four touchdowns. The big play ability of Hamler is what makes him so special. Anytime he catches a pass, he’s a threat to take it to the end zone. It doesn’t matter if he catches the ball at his own 20 yard-line.

Hamler’s efforts on kick-off returns also made him a candidate for the Paul Hornung Award for the most versatile player in college football. There’s no doubt that Hamler will be the biggest weapon for Penn State’s offense next season.

In terms of the other wide receivers, we really haven’t seen a lot of them, so it will certainly be interesting to see what they can do this upcoming season.

Justin Shorter was the No. 8 overall recruit in the 2018 recruiting class, and the No. 1 wide receiver. He missed most of last season with a knee injury, so we haven’t seen much of him. However, with his six-foot-four frame and  4.5 speed, there’s no doubt he has the potential to be a huge part of Penn State’s plans on offense.

Sophomore wide receiver Jahan Dotson is someone who will also see plenty of snaps, as he showed massive potential in his game appearances towards the end of last season. He caught 13 passes for 203 yards in 2018, and easily had some of the best hands of any of the wide receivers Penn State put on the field.

When it comes to receivers that will sub in for the starters, it all starts with Mac Hippenhammer. The junior wide receiver caught six passes for 103 yards last season. In addition, second year player Daniel George should see expanded time on offense. The former four-star recruit caught a 95-yard touchdown from Sean Clifford near the end of last year’s Kent State game. That was one of his two receptions on the season.

Penn State also will have two grad transfer receivers on the roster next season in Weston Carr and George Campbell. Carr will transfer to Penn State from division II Azusa Pacific University, where he had 167 receptions for 3,005 yards and 36 touchdowns in his career. Campbell is a former five-star recruit from Florida State, who’s career has been plagued by injuries. Campbell only played seven games at Florida State since his college career started in 2015.

Overall, there’s no doubt that Penn State has a wide receiver group that’s inexperienced. However, this group without a doubt has a much higher ceiling than the 2018 group. It should be interesting to see what the final receiver rotation will be, but there’s certainly a lot to be excited about come the 2019 season.