Penn State football’s Jahan Dotson is poised for a breakout year
All eyes are on Penn State football wide receiver Jahan Dotson this year as a teammate, and some coaches are expecting a breakout season.
Who’s going to break out for the Penn State Football program as an unexpected contributor in 2019? Will it be their quarterback Sean Clifford, who has yet to lead an offense full time? Perhaps it will be running back, Ricky Slade as he gets to step into a potential bell-cow role. Or maybe, just maybe, it will be second-year wideout, Jahan Dotson.
There seems to be a bit of a buzz going around regarding Dotson. The sophomore wideout entered Penn State last season as a four-star recruit coming out of Nazareth High School in Pennsylvania. Ranked as the 36th best wide receiver in the 2018 class, Dotson was coming to Happy Valley with some high expectations. Although he entered college as a wideout with high upside, his size is what concerned many the most.
Measuring in at five-foot-eleven-inches, and weighing in at 155-pounds when he entered the NCAA wasn’t exactly the ideal size for a wideout. Dotson went through with his Freshman season at Penn State by flashing just a small sample of what he’s able to bring to the table.
Last year, Dotson caught 13 passes for 203 yards. Again, just a flash of what’s yet to come, but his fellow teammates and coaches are excited to see him put his improvements to the test in 2019.
The first improvement on Dotson’s checklist for the 2019 offseason was to bulk up. His wide receiver’s coach Gerad Parker wanted to see him get more physical. Being that he’s undersized, Dotson knew he had to get a little bit bigger. Now weighing in around 180 pounds, Dotson suddenly has a more desirable build, which gives him the tools to take his game to the next level.
Will we see a much more improved Dotson in 2019? His peers surely believe so. According to The Morning Call’s Mark Wogenrich, Dotson has impressed not only his coaches but his teammate Justin Shorter as well. “I just like how he takes the game on, I think he’s going to be really, really good for us this year,” Shorter said while discussing his fellow wide receiver. And if Shorter’s words don’t mean enough, maybe Parker’s co-sign will help with adding more noise to the buzz.
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“Jahan has an unbelievable feel for his body, he does a great job of being very fluid, very loose. You could almost use the word silky. He knows his body and he can control it. I really think everybody here is going to be really, really, really impressed with who he can become.” If Dotson can live up to his offseason hype and emerge while Shorter returns to the field, the Penn State Nittany Lions wide receiving core should shape up to be a solid unit for the 2019 season.