Penn State's Koby Howard trying to buck trend of one-hit wonders at receiver
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You wouldn’t have known Penn State has had a problem at receiver by looking at Week 1 box scores from the recent past.
As encouraging as sophomore Koby Howard’s monster performance in the Sept. 5 opener against Marshall was, he will need to demonstrate consistency in the coming weeks to prove that he can be the reliable and dynamic outside target this offense has sorely lacked as it’s failed to perform in big games against peer programs like Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan and Oregon.
Howard hauled in six receptions for 161 yards and a touchdown against the Thundering Herd, leading the Nittany Lions to a 45-0 win at Beaver Stadium.
First-year coach Matt Campbell and offensive coordinator have drawn wide praise for their willingness to look downfield in the days since, with many fans seeing Howard’s breakthrough effort as a stark departure from the conservatism that they feel characterized the final weeks for former coach James Franklin and OC Andy Kotelnicki. That assessment is largely ahistorical, though, and suffers from the same problem as recent years: A small sample size.
Receiver Keandre Lambert-Smith had a huge night in the 2023 opener against West Virginia. He caught four passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns in what was quarterback Drew Allar’s first career start.
One year later, Harrison “Tre” Wallace III diced up the Mountaineers defense for five catches, 117 yards and two touchdowns of his own.
And last year, transfer receivers Trebor Pena (seven catches, 74 yards) and Kyron Hudson (six catches, 89 yards, one touchdown) had encouraging outings in their Penn State debuts against Nevada.
None of the four were able to sustain that success, especially once the Big Ten schedules began in earnest.
Lambert-Smith did not crack the 100-yard mark again for the rest of the season. He was held to six catches for 52 yards in a 20-12 loss at Ohio State. Then managed just one catch for six yards in a 24-15 home loss to Michigan that effectively eliminated Penn State from College Football Playoff consideration. He finished the season with 673 yards, so nearly 20% of his season production came in that first game.
Wallace similarly became ordinary through the Big Ten portion of Penn State’s schedule. He surpassed the 60-yard threshold just twice over the rest of the season. He had just two catches in a 20-13 home loss to Ohio State; four catches for 59 yards in a Big Ten championship loss to Oregon; and no catches in the College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Notre Dame at the Orange Bowl that ended Penn State’s bid to play for a title.
Hudson went on to become nearly a non-factor in 2025. He totaled 23 catches for 288 yards for the season. Pena was better, but no-showed in the back-to-back-to-back losses that got Franklin fired at midseason. He had two catches for 16 yards against Oregon, three catches for 15 yards against UCLA and two catches for five yards against Northwestern.
Howard has a different coach and different coordinator to help him avoid a similar fate, but that’s the history he’ll need to overcome.
“I think the sky is the limit for Koby Howard, and I’m really proud of him because, you were ready for this moment,” Campbell said of the performance after the game. “You were ready when the opportunity came away, and I do think that is college football right here. Your shots come, the moment’s going to come when you take advantage of it, and Koby’s a guy that’s worked so hard behind the scenes to take advantage of this moment, so I’m really happy for him.”
The Pensacola, Fla., native’s playing time was the subject of intense scrutiny after Franklin’s firing in 2025.
A former three-star rated recruit by 247 Sports, many fans began to see him as a key piece of the program’s future who should get opportunities over older transfer players like Hudson, Pena and Devonte Ross.
Instead, he played sparingly under interim coach Terry Smith. He finished the season with seven catches for 133 yards, all of them coming after Franklin’s firing.
To his credit, Campbell, Mouser and quarterback Rocco Becht have shown early faith in him anyway. The question now is how far he can carry that forward. And Howard knows one game is far from an adequate answer.
“I feel like today was just a test, but you know it really doesn’t stop here,” he said after the game. “I’ve just got to keep proving myself and keep showing the coaches that they can trust me so that when those big moments come, they’re ready to call my number.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Penn State's Koby Howard trying to buck trend of one-hit wonders at receiver
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