Penn State Football Recruit Spotlight: WR Jaden Dottin
Helping to reload a now stacked receiving corps, Jaden Dottin brings with him a big frame to Happy Valley.
The Penn State football team received a big early enrollee earlier this year, literally, when WR Jaden Dottin joined the Nittany Lions. Hailing from Suffield Academy in Connecticut, Dottin stands at 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds and will certainly hear his name called on the receiving end of Sean Clifford passes sooner than later.
Follow along with our Penn State football recruit spotlight series:
TE Theo Johnson
S Enzo Jennings
RB Caziah Holmes
DT Cole Brevard
WR KeAndre Lambert
Dottin was ranked as the state of Connecticut’s third-best player overall and the nation’s 47th-best receiver for the 2020 recruiting cycle by 247Sports, earning a four-star rating. According to Rivals, he was the fifth-best player in the state and 60th-best receiver, earning a three-star rating.
Regardless, his big frame saw him come down with several contested targets over his high school career as he also has a great set of routes he ran as well. His release is much better than a man of his size and age and that caught the eye of 247Sports National Recruiting Analyst Brian Dohn:
"Athletic, instinctive and quick. Releases well at snap. Gets out of breaks with explosion. Strong route runner. Good ball skills and comfortable in traffic. Attacks ball with strong hands. High points ball and has plus body control. Uses length well."
Dohn continued to say that Dottin certainly needs to add strength and muscle mass and may have to work on his top-end speed but with the routes he’s capable of running, he can certainly find himself open easy enough. He enters the fold at receiver, like his new teammate KeAndre Lambert, hoping to fill the void left by Justin Shorter and KJ Hamler from this past season.
Hamler’s 92 total targets are certainly a big hole to fill and the need to fill that void certainly speaks to why Jaden Dottin enrolled early alongside Lambert. Using his contested-catch ability as well as his big frame, potentially in the red zone, would add a great complement to the receiving corps already set in place as well as take pressure off TE Pat Freiermuth in the scoring areas.
He averaged 18.7 yards per catch last season at Suffield, helping lead them to an undefeated season in 2019. He also spent time on the defensive side of the field where he came away with three interceptions as well.
Dottin is a longtime Penn State commit and has been on campus several times before enrolling in January so get used to seeing him even more this year and on Saturdays this fall.