Harrison Wallace III ran down the sideline and hauled in a perfect deep ball from Penn State quarterback Drew Allar at Tuesday’s practice. It’s a play Wallace will likely be asked to repeat plenty this fall as his role within the offense expands. But it doesn’t appear as if Wallace is subject to the same pressure to be the No. 1 receiver as another was a year ago.
Last spring, James Franklin asked KeAndre Lambert-Smith to be Penn State’s No. 1 receiving target, and define himself as a threat both in the Big Ten and nationally. That plan ultimately fell through and Lambert-Smith has since transferred to Auburn.
Heading into 2024, Wallace has been widely regarded as the team’s de facto top option in the pass game. But is that really the case? Andy Kotelnicki, the team’s new offensive coordinator, said it’s complicated.
“I don’t think so much within a position about, ‘Hey, he’s the No. 1 of this or that. Not to minimize what [Wallace] has done or the player he is. I look at it more of like, OK, what does Trey do better than everybody?” Kotelnicki said after practice Tuesday. “Maybe, what route? Maybe it’s blocking, whatever it is. And I look at that in every position, and then we say, let’s put them in position to do that.”
It’s possible Wallace could’ve surpassed the increasingly underused Lambert-Smith in 2023 had injuries not stunted his availability. Wallace may not yet have demonstrated the same obvious greatness that Chris Godwin, Jahan Dotson or KJ Hamler showed almost immediately, but by the looks of it, he’s a quality wide receiver. And he should be used in ways that maximize his production.
Whether he’s utilized in short-yardage schemes or as a blocker, Wallace is likely to show up throughout Kotelnicki’s system. But that doesn’t necessarily make him the No. 1 target on offense, and James Franklin even deflected a question asking if he’s confident in Wallace playing under that title. That could be because Wallace hasn’t been asked to play that role.
Throughout camp, Wallace was placed in the same conversation as Liam Clifford, two wide receivers who were never previously viewed as comparable threats. Franklin said he anticipates both Wallace and Clifford to have “big years,” even though Clifford’s name wasn’t mentioned in the original question: is Wallace No. 1?
“I think Trey and Liam have had really, really good camps. I think there’s a lot of excitement within our program, and I think they’ve earned a lot of respect,” Franklin said. “They really worked their tails off since the end of last season, mentally, physically, and have been very consistent.”
It hasn’t been a matter of Wallace or Clifford making continually eye-opening plays, either. They’ve just consistently executed on whatever the coaches have asked them to, said Kotelnicki, who mentioned another name in the same breath who should see as many targets as Wallace and Clifford, if not more.
And that player isn’t a wide receiver at all. It’s tight end Tyler Warren, who could be the true priority target in Kotelnicki’s offense, although his role has been applied with the same rationale that surrounds Wallace’s.
“You might say, this is the No. 1 blank at this position. This is the No. 1 guy. You might say, Ty Warren’s the No. 1 guy. But if we have a tight end that can do something better than Ty, but that’s just the one little thing he does, we should put him on the field to do that,” Kotelnicki said. “So it’s not just (that) he’s clearly better at everything. Sometimes that’s the case, but really it goes into, like, the individual capabilities of things we’re asking them to do.”
Wallace said he feels he should be one of the team’s top targets, but also acknowledged a handful of players who could also ultimately play that role. Those players include Clifford, Omari Evans, Julian Fleming, Kaden Saunders and, of course, Warren.
If there’s one title Wallace has garnered from coaches, it’s consistent. That’s where he’s truly separated himself. Kotelnicki explained that “being consistently good is better than occasionally great,” and that’s exactly what Wallace has been. Wallace has found success from play to play and practice to practice. But he may not be the ultimate focal point in Kotelnicki’s scheme.
But until the Aug. 31 season opener at West Virginia, Wallace is going to keep pushing to be the player that best fits Kotelnicki’s playbook. And it’s possible he ends up being the No. 1 target after all, but not without separating himself from every other receiving weapon.
“Everybody’s fighting for that spot,” Wallace said.
