Penn State football’s KJ Hamler names his three NFL inspirations
Penn State football star KJ Hamler recently named three NFL wide receiver who he looks up to and models his game after.
For the last year or so, Penn State football fans have been extremely excited to see what KJ Hamler can do in the NCAA. As he spent his first year in college rehabbing from a torn ACL, which he suffered in High School, the former four-star recruit’s debut was highly anticipated.
Knowing how electric he could be on the field, Penn State was excited to get this kid going when he was finally able to reach the field during the 2018 season. His first season in college was okay. He caught 42 passes for 754 yards and five touchdowns.
While his stats don’t exactly jump off the paper, the abilities he flashed had everybody excited for his Sophomore season. During the first week against Idaho, Hamler gave the crowd exactly what they wanted. With four catches for 115 yards and two scores, Hamler established himself as the Nittany Lions’ top wideout for the season, as expected.
His first couple of performances made some noise around the league, but not the way his Week 5 performance did against Maryland. After Hamler caught a quick slant from Sean Clifford across the middle of the field, the Sophomore speedster showed how dangerous he could be with the ball in his hands, despite not catching a deep pass down the field.
From that play moving forward, that’s all anybody wanted to talk about regarding Hamler. His play was so explosive; it caused Sports Illustrated to run a story on him a couple of days later. That’s when we found out which three NFL wide receivers are responsible for motivating Hamler.
The three wideouts that Hamler looks up to
Who is KJ Hamler’s favorite player in the NFL? None other than Philadelphia Eagles wideout DeSean Jackson. Knowing that is far from surprising. As Jackson made his name for being undersized, but faster than all of his opponents, Hamler shares the same qualities.
Now, where does Hamler get his cockiness from? Not Jackson exactly, but the retired receiver, Steve Smith. Once again, Smith is another undersized wideout but never backed down from anything or anyone. Hamler appreciates Smith’s ‘dog mentality.’
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Last but not least, Hamler also looks up to current Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs due to his immaculate route running. Diggs might’ve been slept on early in his career, but he developed into one of the NFL’s best route runners. With Hamler knowing that his size won’t win him battles, his speed and route running are what he has to master. Diggs has his mastered. Soon, Hamler will too.