CFB Insider reminds James Franklin’s Penn State of five-year-old problem they still have not fixed

The Penn State Nittany Lions have been a strong program for the last few years. They are generally seen as the third-best team in the Big Ten Conference behind Ohio State and Michigan. Last season, they made it to the semifinal of the College Football Playoff and are widely tipped to make the playoff again in 2025.

However, on the latest edition of "Josh Pate's College Football Show," the host pinpointed one specific problem that the team has had for a while.

"Penn State, one major question: What are you going to be at wide receiver?" Pate said (0:04).

While many programs have a good mixture of talented WR and running backs, the key talents in the Nittany Lions offense are concentrated in the RB position.

The pairing of Kaytron Allen and Nicolas Singleton has been almost single-handedly leading their offense. During the 2024 season, they recorded more than 1,000 rushing yards, combining for 20 of the 35 rushing touchdowns Penn State scored.

In contrast, the best player in the WR position was Harrison Wallace III. He recorded 720 yards with four TDs from 42 catches. Other WRs recorded yardage, but they did not have half of what Wallace had.

However, Wallace is no longer with the program, which only weakens the WR room. Allen and Singleton have returned for one more season so they are likely to see something similar in 2025 — a run-heavy offense that may not be developing its future starting WRs to help move the offense when Singleton and Allen leave.

Penn State HC James Franklin on how the Nittany Lions are helping the wide receivers

Penn State has been bringing in WRs through the transfer portal.

"We obviously went into the transfer portal and got some guys as well who have also been impressive," Nittany Lions coach James Franklin said in February, via SI. "But we'll have a better idea once we get through winter workouts. We'll have a better idea through spring ball. We'll have a better idea after talking to the strength coaches, and we kind of really get into it.”

Two notable transfers are Kyron Hudson from USC and Devonte Ross from Troy. They are experienced and will look to not only finish their careers with Penn State but are also expected to help the next batch of receivers.