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Penn State Football’s Week One Matchup Just Got a Little Easier

By Alec Whitaker

STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 05: Sean Clifford #14 of the Penn State Nittany Lions runs for a touchdown against Purdue Boilermakers during the first half at Beaver Stadium on October 5, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 05: Sean Clifford #14 of the Penn State Nittany Lions runs for a touchdown against Purdue Boilermakers during the first half at Beaver Stadium on October 5, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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Penn State Football’s week one opponent, the Purdue Boilermakers, will be without their top wide receiver this upcoming season.

Tom Dienhart of GoldAndBlack.com reported on Saturday afternoon that Purdue wide receiver Milton Wright is no longer with the program.

The reasoning for Wright’s dismissal was a failure to meet academic requirements.

While this is an unfortunate situation for the student-athlete, it’s a big factor in the week one matchup.

Purdue was already down their top wide out from last season with All-American David Bell moving on to the NFL. Wright was slated to assume the go-to receiver role in Purdue’s pass-heavy offense.

Last season, Wright caught 57 passes for 732 yards and seven touchdowns.

Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell is undoubtedly one of the best quarterbacks in the conference, but it will be interesting to see how he preforms without his best two options from last season.

O’Connell completed 71.6% of his passes last year for 3,712 yards with 28 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. These numbers are fantastic, but they’re even better when you realize he wasn’t the full-time starter at times throughout the year.

Purdue’s top two options at wide receiver now seem to be Broc Thompson and TJ Sheffield. Both had pretty good seasons last year.

Thompson caught 30 passes for 467 yards and four touchdowns, while Sheffield had 36 catches for 325 yards and five scores. We’ll now see how these two preform being the first and second options instead of the fourth and fifth options that they were in 2021.

Penn State has a talented secondary, headlined by cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and safety Ji’Ayir Brown, both of whom could be first round picks next Spring. This will be a good first test for both sides as Penn State will face Purdue’s fierce passing attack and Purdue’s young receivers will go against Penn State’s talented and experienced secondary.

The Nittany Lions are currently 2.5-point favorites for their matchup at Purdue to start the 2022 season.

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