Penn State has had a wide receiver problem, and for both years of Drew Allar’s tenure as the Nittany Lions’ starting quarterback, that problem has persisted. After no wide receivers caught a pass in the team’s season-ending College Football Playoff Semifinal loss to Notre Dame at the Orange Bowl, James Franklin had enough.
Heading into his 12th year at Happy Valley and Allar’s third as his starting quarterback, Franklin overhauled the wide receiver room, allowing Harrison Wallace III and Omari Evans to leave through the transfer portal while replacing them with experienced veterans. USC transfer Kyron Hudson, Troy transfer Devonte Ross, and Syracuse transfer Trebor Pena are expected to be Allar’s top targets on the outside, but the glut of veterans hasn’t stopped true freshman Koby Howard from impressing his QB.
Koby Howard continues to stand out among Penn State’s young wide receivers
Howard was one of three wide receivers in the 2025 class, part of the ongoing effort to revamp that position group in Happy Valley, and though he was barely a composite four-star and ranked as the No. 68 wide receiver in the 2025 class, Allar has big expectations for him in Year 1.
During a guest appearance on the Cover 3 Podcast at Big Ten Media Days, Allar was asked about who could emerge to fill the monstrous role that Tyler Warren vacated in the Penn State passing offense when he left for the NFL, and it didn’t take long for Howard’s name to come up.
“Those four games have been phenomenal,” Allar said of his veteran transfer trio and longtime Nittany Lion Liam Clifford. “I think they’ve been really good leaders, I think we have a lot of young guys that have been in our program like Kaden Saunders and Anthony Ivey that have really taken their next step, and then also we have some young guy who just enrolled like Koby Howard, who is going to be a real playmaker for us. I think he’s going to play at some point this year.”
Yes, six Penn State wide receivers were named ahead of Howard, but to be the seventh one to come to mind for your senior quarterback ahead of your first fall camp is meaningful. With so much talent ahead of him, Howard should still be expected to redshirt this season, but if he continues to develop, he could become a factor down the stretch and into the postseason when his appearances no longer count against redshirt rules.
However, if he’s made such a significant impression on Allar, Franklin could give Howard the green light to burn his redshirt in Year 1.
At 5-foot-11 and 202 pounds, Howard isn’t a physically dominant presence, but he dominated the high school level with his breakaway speed and began turning heads immediately after arriving in Happy Valley. Ross should provide that field-stretching element to the offense, but Howard could be offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s second-best option to threaten a defense vertically.