Devonte Ross is amid a major transition. Just months ago, he was leading the offensive charge at Troy. Now, he’s been asked to step into the shoes as a starting wide receiver at Penn State, dynamic enough to help the program win a national championship for the first time in 39 years. The reviews on Ross, so far, have been excellent.
Ross followed in the footsteps of USC’s Kyron Hudson and joined the Nittany Lions this winter. And since his arrival, Ross has gained weight through the gauntlet that is strength coach Chuck Losey’s conditioning program and emerged as an essential piece of Penn State’s offensive puzzle. There’s still work to be done, but Losey can’t spread enough positivity about him.
“Ross has thrived in the program,” Losey told local media on Thursday. “He’s up 16 pounds right now, very powerful for his size.”
When Ross joined the Nittany Lions, he weighed just 161 pounds. Now closer to 180 pounds, Ross remains one of the lightest scholarship wide receivers on roster, but fits the build of a playmaker capable of facing Big Ten defenses. After eclipsing 1,000 receiving yards with the Trojans last season, his next major test will be producing throughout spring practices.
“I was surprised at how strong and powerful he is for his size,” Losey said. “I think he got here and he weighed in, like, 161, which is really light. He’s not a large-frame guy, but he’s thrived in the sense that he’s taken advantage of all the resources that we offer, as opposed to a place like his previous school.”
Penn State will need the help. The team’s two leading wide receivers from this past season, Harrison Wallace III and Omari Evans, have transferred elsewhere after a second consecutive year in which the position group struggled to maintain a consistency of dominance. Ross and Hudson have been called upon to flip the script for the good.
And the pressure is on, even six months before the Nittany Lions’ season opener against Nevada on Aug. 30. Pat Kraft, the university’s athletic director, appeared to hint last Monday that the program could target some more receivers when the spring transfer window opens in April. That is, unless Ross and Hudson prove their capabilities until then.
“We all know we need wide receiver help, so we gotta go find one,” Kraft said. “I think we have some really good ones in the building, but everyone knows, like it’s not some secret. So you go find that. You got to trust that process.”
Penn State currently possesses just three scholarship wide receivers who tallied catches this past season: Liam Clifford, Tyseer Denmark and Anthony Ivey. Clifford is the only one who caught more than two passes. That statistic should boost the heat on Ross even more, and he hasn’t appeared swayed by the pressure.
“Nutrition, recovery, the staff, he’s embraced it all, and he’s applied it all and it’s really helped him put on the mass that he’s put on without compromising the speed,” Losey said. “He’s already a very good to elite mover on film. We knew what we were bringing in. But we needed a little bit more robust body for him to put up for the duration of the season.”
