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Forget this focus on Penn State’s super-strong receiving corps grabbing a No. 5 preseason ranking while securing a spot among the country’s best pass catchers.
The Nittany Lions believe they can snag a spot even higher by the end of the year.
“We want to be the best in the nation,” Lions redshirt junior wideout DaeSean Hamilton said. “Not just the fifth-best.”
It’s hard to stop the Lions receivers from reaching for the sky.
They may have the most reliable talent in terms of depth and skill across the Big Ten, if not the country.
FOX Sports ranked Penn State No. 5 among FBS receiving groups, even after the transfer of fifth-year senior Eugene Lewis to Oklahoma.
Led by junior and second-year starter Chris Godwin — named to the preseason Maxwell Award watch list along with Lions running back Saquon Barkley — Penn State returns a plethora of big-play targets first-year starting quarterbacks Trace McSorley and Tommy Stevens can turn to for help.
Experienced receivers Hamilton and Godwin are joined by a group looking to break through in 2016 — Saeed Blacknall, DeAndre Thompkins and Brandon Polk.
“Basically, we have so much potential,” Godwin said. “I think we have a lot of expectations for our group. But we understand we have to put in the hard work.”
That mindset has made Penn State difficult to defend in the passing game.
Godwin leads the way, coming off a 1,101-yard receiving season while leading the Lions with 69 catches, five of them for touchdowns, last season.
Hamilton, Penn State’s receiving leader in 2014 with 45 receptions for 899 yards, came back with a 45-catch, 580-yard season as a sophomore and snagged six touchdowns. Blacknall burst onto the scene as a deep threat by averaging 31 yards on his eight catches while Polk and Thompkins both used their speed to score touchdowns on misdirection plays.
Add in a pair of promising 6-foot-4, 219-pound redshirt freshmen in Irvin Charles and Juwan Johnson, and Penn State appears primed to keep its receiving game revved up all season.
“We don’t just have talent,” new Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead said, “we have depth and talent. We have outside receivers with Saeed and Chris, then slot receivers with DaeSean and some of the other guys. They’re just prototypes for our system.
“With their athletic ability, playmaking skill, we’re looking for big things from the receiving corps this year.”
The problem may be getting everyone enough touches in the passing game.
Godwin, though, insisted it won’t be much trouble at all.
“We don’t think about competitions,” Godwin said. “We just go out, as a unit, as one family, trying to make the best plays we can as a group.”
That should help the team transition from the departure of NFL Draft pick Christian Hackenberg, who’s now with the New York Jets, to McSorley and Stevens.
“It won’t be much of an adjustment,” Hamilton insisted. “We’ve caught passes from them in practice before, so it’s not like it’s totally different for us. We need to make sure he has faith in us. It’s our job to catch the ball. We really enjoy making sure we are making plays for our quarterback. “
After all, the Lions receivers are counting on consistency to lead them to the top.
“I think this is really the best receiving corps in the nation,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got to believe it.
“Every single game, we think we’re the best.”
