Three Legitimate Reasons to be Excited About Penn State's WR Room

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For the first time in a long time, there is reason to be very excited about what Penn State has to offer at the wide receiver position.

For the definitely the last decade, it has been very painful to understand what the Nittany Lions were deploying at the wide receiver position. The last great wide receiver who went through Happy Valley was Chris Godwin Jr., who exited the program in 2016 and was drafted in the 2017 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Since then, it has been swing and miss after swing and miss at the position, which has ultimately been responsible for a very old school offense year after year.

The last four years at Penn State were an incredible example of the true disaster that position has been. Penn State had one of the top quarterback recruits in the country on its roster, and his top target was tight end Tyler Warren for three straight years.

Allar only played with one wide receiver that go drafted, KeAndre Lambert-Smith, and it was only after he transferred to Auburn in the 2024 season.

It has been slim pickings at the wide receiver position, but Matt Campbell is hopefully changing the narrative.

Campbell brought with him from Iowa State three of his top pass catchers from his Cyclone days, including the best one of them all, Chase Sowell. Sowell is entering his fifth season in college, and he has caught passes in each of the last four for three different schools. 

His career began in Colorado before he transferred to East Carolina for two years, before finishing at Iowa State.

On his career, he has 115 catches for 1,823 yards and six touchdowns.

The transfer that Nittany Lions fans should be incredibly excited about is Brett Erickson, who comes from Iowa State after two years there, but only one where he really contributed.

Last year, in his first year playing, he finished with 30 catches for 526 yards but no scores last year. He showed explosive ability and a lot of room to grow and elevate his game.

The third top target is going to be returning weapon Koby Howard, who came on a little bit at the end of the season and showed that he has a lot to like in his game if he continues to elevate his game for Penn State.

There is enough to be excited about from the wide receiver room for next year. It certainly isn't a room that compares to Ohio State's, but before getting there, they need to take small steps in the right direction to get there in the years to come.

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