For the last several years, the Penn State passing game has been rather disappointing. Drew Allar was a square peg in the Andy Kotelnicki offense round hole, and coupled with subpar performances by the receivers, the passing game just sort of sputtered. The nadir of this was, of course, the College Football Playoff semifinal game against Notre Dame, where famously not a single pass was completed to a wide receiver.But, Allar and Kotelnicki are gone, virtually all of the receivers are gone, and head coach James Franklin is gone.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn comes quarterback Rocco Becht and offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser, a whole host of new receivers, and of course new head coach Matt Campbell.So, will the passing game improve under the new regime?For starters, your likely top three wide receivers are Chase Sowell, Brett Eskildsen, and Koby Howard. Chase and Brett are both transfers from Iowa State who, like Rocco, are veterans of the Mouser offense. Last year, Sowell hauled in 32 catches for 500 yards and two touchdowns, while Eskildsen had 30 catches for 526 yards and five touchdowns.The scheme will be new to Koby, but he’s shown flashes even under the previous scheme, and should be set to break out.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe top two tight ends will be transfer Ben Brahmer and homegrown Andrew Rappleyea. Given that Mouser likes two tight end sets, expect to see both of them on the field, with Rocco having his pick of receiver based on what the defense is showing. Last year Brahmer had 37 catches for 446 yards and six touchdowns, and Rapp had 20 catches for 180 yards and three touchdowns.While no one of the five players mentioned utterly blew away the competition, having five quality receivers each with double digit catches under their belt can only be a boon as Mouser implements his scheme with a blend of old and new faces.But what do you think? Will Penn State’s passing game finally resemble some sort of functionality? Or will the dysfunction continue.
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