Penn State Football: No More JoeMo, But Plenty of New Catches at WR

Joe Moorhead may be gone, but more and more big-time high school receivers are catching on with Penn State.

Moorhead — the architect of Penn State’s total offensive rebuild that saw its points per game double from 20.6 in 2014 to 41.6 in 2017 — left to become head coach at Mississippi State.

But JoeMo left behind a template for a high-scoring offense that distributes the ball and attracts five- and four-star players.

And head coach James Franklin, wide receivers coach Josh Gattis and new O-coordinator Ricky Rhane have had two years to commit it to memory.

That, said Franklin, is a big reason the Nittany Lions hauled in a number of top high school receivers. A bit of candor helped as well.

‘We were very open, and I think that really helped us,’ Franklin said. ‘We were very open and honest that we’re going to have assistant coaches leave. I was very upfront that we were going to have assistant coaches leave to go be coordinators, and we were going to have coordinators leave to go be head coaches, and (recruits) understood that.’

As a result, the long and Justin Shorter of it is that Penn State landed three stud wide receivers on Wednesday’s early national signing day.

A TOP TRIO

There’s Shorter himself, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound five-star who both ESPN and 247Sports’ named as the No. 1 wide receiver in the nation and the top recruit from New Jersey.

‘Justin Shorter is as good a high school wide receiver as I’ve ever seen on film and in person,’ Franklin said this week. ‘You talk about another guy who is 6-4, 220 pounds, very mature. For as highly recruited as he was, there was no drama and no issues whatsoever. He committed very early on, never wavered at all. His parents were awesome. High school coach was awesome, kind of all of them.’

Then there’s four-star Daniel George, at 6-2 and 210 pounds, a big acquisition from Oxen Hill, where he was the No. 8 player in Maryland whose athletic skills are validated by a state championship in the 300 hurdles and a runner-up in the 110 hurdles.

‘Daniel George is another really, really mature guy,’ Franklin said. ‘Great student, great high school program. Greg Jefferies, his high school coach, is a good friend of mine and has done a great job. Mom’s a doctor, really mature guy, track guy, can really run. When you see him, he’s physically mature. He’s mentally mature. I think he’s got a chance to come in and do some really good things for us as well.’

Rounding out the group is Johan Dotson, another four-star from Nazareth, Pa., who was all-state with a career line of 187 receptions for over 2,700 yards and 40 TDs, rounds out an incoming trio of receivers for the Class of 2018.

‘Jahan Dotson is a guy that was a different story,’ Franklin said. ‘Recruiting, in-state kid we were trying to connect with. Kind of ups and downs, twists and turns in this recruiting process, but at the end of the day things worked out the way they were supposed to work out. We were able to keep an in-state, local player home, which I think is a win-win for everybody. He has an opportunity to get a world-class education and play big-time football and do it in front of everybody he loves.’

Throw in highly touted tight ends Pat Freiermuth and Zack Kuntz, and the Nittany Lions made a number of top-name grabs to replenish their receiving corps.

And Penn State is not done yet. Gattis, who doubles as the team’s offensive recruiting coordinator, broadly hinted that PSU will add another signee at WR.

BUY THE NUMBERS

The Nittany Lions’ aerial circus the past two seasons has a lot to do with why Penn State reeled in a top-notch receiving corps. Over the past two seasons, Penn State has passed the ball 808 times for 7,080 yards and 59 touchdowns. That’s an average per-game passing line of 32 passes for 272 yards and 2-plus TDs.

At the same time, five different players had 40-plus catches in a single season. One (Chris Godwin) was two-time All-Big Ten and was drafted in the NFL’s third round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after just three seasons. Under Gattis’ tutelage, another (DaeSean Hamilton) led the Big Ten in receptions as a freshman and leaves as Penn State’s all-time leading receiver.

Juwan Johnson, tied for second on the team with 48 receptions in 2017, and DeAndre Thompkins, who averaged 15.5 yards on 26 catches, remain. Still, Penn State has a lot of replacing to do in its passing game production.

Penn State’s offense returns just 38% of its receptions and 36% of its receiving yards from the 2017 regular season. How’s this for a comparison? Figuring Saquon Barkley departs for the NFL after the Fiesta Bowl, the Penn State running game has more production intact for 2018 — 47% of its carries and 44% of its rushing yardage from 2017 return next season.

‘We’re reloading in the wide receiver room,’ Gattis said. ‘We’ve been fortunate that we’ve had a bunch of guys who are talented playing for us the past four years. We’re starting to lose a bunch of those guys.

‘Now, Juwan and DeAndre and Brandon Polk are upperclassmen. We have a good mix of experienced guys who are coming back, but we need to start to get our younger guys experience for when our older guys are not there. We have the next group of play-makers coming in to help make our success sustainable. That’s a thing we do well; we distribute the ball. If you’re a wide receiver, you have to be excited about what we do offensively.’

THE RPO IS STAYING

Moorhead may be gone, but his offense remains, led by Rahne, who after a two-tear stint as tight ends coach, is back coaching the Penn State quarterbacks in addition to calling the plays.

Gattis says the transition will be a smooth one.

‘We did a great job as an offensive staff having input each week,’ Gattis said. ‘Coach Moorhead did an unbelievable job in allowing us to have input. Each week what you saw as the Penn State Offense. It wasn’t the Joe Moorhead Offense. It won’t be the Ricky Rahne Offense; it will be the Penn State Offense. As an offensive staff, we had a ton of input, even though there is one play-caller.

‘Ricky is going to keep it consistent. He’s done a really great job so far. We’re really excited about him. It’s really an opportunity for us to put our name on the offense.’

Gattis provides a strong sense of continuity to Penn State’s passing attack. Entering Franklin’s Year 5 at Penn State, Gattis is the only offensive coach who has been a constant at his position for the entire run.

In fact, when the 2018 season begins, Gattis will have been with Franklin for seven consecutive seasons — two at Vanderbilt and five at Penn State. Only Rahne has been with the head coach longer among the offensive staff, by a long shot. Offensive line coach Matt Limegrover is finishing up his second year with Franklin, while new tight ends coach Tyler Bowen is back at Penn State, where he was a GA in 2014. Since then, Bowen spent two years at Fordham and one at Maryland. Franklin will name a new running back coach, to replace the departed Charles Huff, by Jan. 9, the official date when major college teams will be permitted to add a 10th full-time assistant coach.

Beyond the coaches, Gattis says, it is the players who really make the offense go.

‘This offense belongs to the 11 men who go out there and play every Saturday for us,’ he said. ‘That’s the exciting thing that happens.

‘Coach Moorhead deserved the opportunity, but more than anything those young men who went out there on Saturdays got that opportunity for him. That’s the message I relayed to a lot of those guys — the DaeSean Hamiltons, the Saquon Barkleys, the Mike Gesicki making plays — none of these opportunities can happen without them.’