Penn State Football: 2009 Passing Attack

Columnist Written on August 15, 2009

PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 1: Stephfon Green #21 of the Penn State Nittany Lions carries the ball against the USC Trojans on January 1, 2009 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. USC won 38-24. (Photo by Jeff Golden/Getty Images)

(Photo by Jeff Golden/Getty Images)

The Penn State football team has a lot of players returning that made huge contributions to their Rose Bowl run a season ago. However, there is one position where the Lions will have to completely start over.

Last season, PSU graduated star wide-outs Deon Butler, Jordan Norwood, and Derrick Williams, who all finished in the top ten in most Penn State career receiving categories. The trio accounted for over 60 percent of the Lions’ receiving yardage last season.

So how will Penn State find replacements to fill in for what these receivers produced?

They won’t.

The Lions have many talented players coming into the season offensively, but not many with much receiving experience.

PSU does, however, have a quarterback returning who scored 10 rushing touchdowns a year ago as well as two featured running backs who each averaged well over five yards per carry last season. But it is pretty clear that the Lions will need to find some success through the air as well if they want to have success on offense in the coming season.

They should find that their passing success may not come mostly by way of wide receivers.

Penn State has two phenomenal tight ends with a few seasons of experience each. Andrew Quarless and Mickey Shuler had very similar numbers a season ago; each had a touchdown reception and Quarless had 117 yards receiving while Shuler had 120. However, in an offense that looks to the tight end more both of these players are capable of putting up much bigger numbers.

Quarless has the size and athleticism to present match-up problems for any defense while Shuler relies more on game savvy and route-running. It has not been made clear which one of these two will be the starting tight end this season, but Penn State would benefit greatly by putting them both on the field as much as possible.

The Lions also have the luxury of great pass-catching running backs. Evan Royster had 155 yards receiving last season while Stephfon Green had 268, including a touchdown and average yards per reception of 17.9. Both can serve as weapons catching the ball out of the backfield, and Green provides the added option of being split out wide and running a receiver’s route.

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written on August 15, 2009 Preview/Prediction