ALTOONA, Pa. -- There's a big difference between getting some good players out of the transfer portal and needing to get good players in order to fill big vacancies.
It was bound to happen sooner or later, and it wound up being sooner than most would have expected that Penn State would be in dire need of getting multiple players out of the portal to make up for major shortcomings in one spot.
When Parker Washington decided last week to declare for the NFL draft, it cost the Nittany Lions their No. 1 wide receiver for next year. Mitchell Tinsley also is out of eligibility, so there goes the No. 2 wideout.
This isn't like bringing in Arnold Ebiketie or Chop Robinson from the portal. Sure, those guys were great gets, but it's not like the Lions were desperate for defensive ends.
They are desperate right now, however, for top-flight wide receivers.
There are some nice young players in the program, but there does not appear to be anyone ready to step up and be a No. 1 wide receiver in the Big Ten. In all honesty, there probably isn't anyone in the program ready to be a strong No. 2 receiver, either, next season.
All of which is a big problem when you'll be breaking in a new starting quarterback in Drew Allar, who will be expected to be a star right away. But he cannot be a star right away -- or at any point, really -- if he doesn't have the kind of weapons on the outside who can change games.
Penn State, therefore, finds itself in the uncomfortable position of having to hit at least one home run at wide receiver in the transfer portal. And maybe even two.
Being able to do so will be a big test of Penn State's NIL situation, as well. Is the program positioned well enough -- RIGHT NOW -- to be able to win a bidding war for one or multiple standout receivers who also are being sought after by other big programs?
In short, can Penn State afford to give a guy an NIL deal worth several hundred thousand dollars if necessary in order to bring in the kind of wideout who you know -- guaranteed -- will be a difference maker next season?
We could know the answer any day now, and until we do, it's going to be very interesting to see how all this plays out.
A lot of portal people seem to think it's a foregone conclusion that Kent State receiver Dante Cephas will end up transferring to Penn State. Cephas is from Pittsburgh and played at Penn Hills High School, and he would be a good get for the Lions.
But there are two things to consider with him:
1. Cephas has a bunch of offers. A check of his Twitter page shows offers from Georgia, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Pitt, West Virginia and Colorado, where Deion Sanders is now the coach. So, while Penn State should be a big factor in his decision, you've got to wonder just how much NIL money or anything else all of those other big schools are offering. And again, can Penn State match it through all of its NIL collectives or what have you.
2. OK, here's the football aspect with Cephas: Is he even a No. 1 receiver? The kind who can come to Penn State and, as the guy who will be the focal point of every defense, be able to deliver the kind of performance and production needed to be a No. 1? He's good, no doubt. But he only caught 48 passes for 744 yards and three TDs this season at Kent State, and was the No. 2 receiver on his team. The No. 1 guy was Devontez Walker (58 catches, 921 yards, 11 TDs), and he's also in the transfer portal. Walker is rated the No. 8 receiver available in the portal by On3, while Cephas is No. 10.
Here's the wide receiver rankings by On3, and notice that Brent Pry at Virginia Tech was able to land the top guy available, Ali Jennings from Old Dominion.
At some point in the coming days, we're going to hear about Penn State landing a receiver out of the transfer portal, and perhaps two, which is what's needed. The best bet is Cephas, and if he does choose the Lions, it would be a good sign, all things considered.
But again, with all due respect to Cephas, is it not fair to wonder if he will be a big enough fish in the pond to feel confident that he could step right in and be a legit No. 1 wideout in the Big Ten? By comparison, Mitchell Tinsley caught 87 passes for 1,402 yards and 14 TDs last year for Western Kentucky before transferring to Penn State. And while he's been solid this year, he was a No. 2 receiver behind Washington, with 45 catches for 528 yards and four TDs.
Another name Penn State fans may hear a lot about is Dont'e Thornton from Oregon, a former 4-star recruit out of high school who is said to be interested in the Lions. But he only caught 17 passes for 366 yards and one TD this season. Sure, he would be a nice pickup, no doubt about it, and might be better than anyone else currently on the Lions' roster. Still, there's really no guarantee that he would be a legit No. 1 Big Ten receiver, either.
OK, OK, I know that there are no guarantees for anything in sports. But the point is, whomever Penn State picks up out of the transfer portal isn't going to be a proven high-level star like Jordan Addison, the Biletnikoff Award winner at Pitt who transferred to USC. It took a reported $3 million for Addison to make that move, and you just know every receiver worth anything saw that number and thought to himself, I wonder how much I could get?
So, getting back to the previous point above about NIL, how much can Penn State pony up, and will it be enough to land someone with a lot of experience who already has put up a lot of numbers? You know, someone like Tinsley ... who again wasn't really No. 1 receiver quality compared to some other Big Ten programs.
Sorry to make your head spin round and round with this stuff, but ALL of it comes back to Washington's decision to turn pro. With him, all Penn State would have been looking for was another No. 2 type. But without Washington, it left a gaping hole that could turn out to be a real issue next season -- no matter who the Lions end up getting out of the portal.
What about in-house candidates to be a No. 1 or No. 2 wideout next year? These are the guys:
• KeAndre Lambert Smith: He was solid at times but also inconsistent this season. His 21 catches rank third among the team's wideouts, and he had 265 yards receiving with three TDs. He just seems more like a No. 3, albeit it with No. 2 potential if he can be more consistent with his routes.
• Harrison Wallace III: There's a lot to like with Tre, who is only a freshman. He has 17 catches for 226 yards and one TD. But to think he can make the big jump to a 1 or 2 next year would be asking a lot.
• Liam Clifford: A freshman, he caught eight passes for 89 yards. He's a long way off from being a No. 2.
• Omari Evans: The freshman had five catches for 55 yards and one score.
• Kaden Saunders: Another freshman, he had two catches for 21 yards.
• Malick Meiga: The sophomore caught three balls for 19 yards.
• Jaden Dottin: Also a sophomore, he had two catches for 14 yards.
Is it possible one of the young guys could really step up next year and become a big-time playmaker? Sure, it's possible. Saunders, for instance, was a 4-star recruit who was the No. 7 wide receiver in the nation for the class of 2022, and he has great upside.
But for all intents and purposes, Penn State is under a lot of pressure to get at least one and probably two really good, proven receivers out of the transfer portal. Will the Lions be able to pull it off? And will those guys prove they can be No. 1 or No. 2 receivers at this level?
They had better be, or else Allar and the offense could face the consequences next season.
