Was it ever confirmed that KLS was the issue in that room? If I remember correctly it was fan speculation based on his disappearance later in the 2023 that may or may not have been an injury. And with Evans and Wallace half-assing routes in the playoffs last season it seemed like the serious wr room problems were still there. I cannot buy that Allar could throw Warren open but could not throw the wrs open. I hope Franklin has not made a huge mistake retaining Hagans.
RB3 Battle
- Thread starter Lazy Dave
- Start date
Regarding KLS, I believe he was part of the attitude problem that festered in that contaminated WR room. Do I know for sure? Of course not. I'm not defending Wallace or Evans either. None of them could make a clutch play to save their life.
I am one that thinks we should have canned Hagans after last year. He is still here and has run out of life lines. Time for the WRs to deliver.
To my knowledge, it was never publicly confirmed. Then again, I don't know what was behind the paywall either.
I think the WR room did show improvement from '23 to '24. Wallace tripled his production (250 to 700 yards) and Evans quadrupled his (94 to over 400) all the while Warren alone nearly doubled his and Theo's production from '23 (750ish to 1200+). If anybody was told this prior to any games, I think many people would have been thrilled.
The biggest issue is the 0 for 0 Notre Dame game. It's the last performance and it sticks in everybody's crawl. I get it. Considering we lost KLS (the WR1 from '23, whether he was a cancer or not) and Cephas (a portal guy we brought in to be WR2 in '23), I think it's a good showing from Hagans. He turned Wallace into a solid WR2/3 who was forced to be our WR1. He also developed Evans into a moderate deep threat, a HS Wildcat QB who was a complete project at WR.
I do think we need to see further improvement this year, particularly from some of his recruits. Granted, he hasn't had much of chance with them yet (would be like judging Traut after '21 for the OL) as his only '23 recruit is gone (did he even recruit him) and his '24 recruits are coming into RS FR years.
I think he also can be judged more harsh off his transfer WRs. I don't think he hand selected Cephas nor McClain and we've since learned Fleming probably was so broken down that he shouldn't have been playing.
The wholesale change of the room for the '25 season means that our transfers need to be hits (at least 2 of 3) and we need somebody else on the roster to emerge and play well (1 minimum, but the more the merrier).
Probably not ready to be RB3 yet, but hearing good things about the kid from Alliquipa. Very hard runner. Katron Jr.
RickinDayton
Well-known member
Observation article from yesterday's practice #3, Kotelnicki indicated there were no problems with this year's receiver group and even used the term "selfish" when referring to last years WR group.
The writers observation about the three portal WRs PSU brought in was they ran crisp routes, catch well, but all seem smallish. Looking forward to seeing them in B1G game action.
TE order at this times looks to be: Dinkins, Reynolds. Rap, the Sheffler (sp?).
Writer said Lavar Arrington II athleticism really stands out and sees him being a special teams contributor.
RB3: Franklin said they will definitely play three RBs this year. Competition ongoing between Wallace, Martin, and Smith.
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GregInPitt
Well-known member
Regarding RB3, Martin is a big, physical athlete but it was reported that he was also getting lots of work catching passes from RB sets some considerably down the field which may be the added skill set he needs to win the RB3 job.
Love the reports on Hayes being a hard nosed tackle breaking runner but I doubt that will get him on the field much this season as it would likely take a spectacular special teams contributing RB (with super top end speed) to not get redshirted this season with the 3 returning RB's behind the co-starters all also competing for backup snaps. Hayes will have every chance to get a spot in the 2026 RB rotation and that competition should be fun to watch play out, although there might be losses to the portal of some projected participants in that battle between now and next summer....
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LudicrousSpeedGO!
Well-known member
It seems that our staff likes a lightning and thunder carry sharing duo at RB. That's Singleton and Allen right now. I suspect that Hayes could play Allen's role next season. The role of Singleton is up for grabs. Or they may just go with the most effective two even if they are similar style runners.
GregInPitt
Well-known member
The lightning and thunder makes a nice duo. But i'm not convinced that two lightning's or two thunder's wouldn't be just as well liked by the coaches if they were both NFL talented RB's like Singleton and Allen are.
Next year there will be (could be) 5 RB's competing for roles in the depth charts (likely 3 deep). In order of seniority, Wallace, Martin, Smith, Hayes and Coleman. And at this point also the 2026 commit Mickens, but realistically a true freshman would have to be Barkley'esq to get legitimately in the race to burn his redshirt next season if all 5 of the others stay. But why would any of the 5 leave before they compete in next Fall's camp if they believe they have a legit chance to be in the 2 deep for 2026 unless they see and believe that from this past Spring's practices through Fall camp and the 2025 season that they are totally outclassed by at least 2 or 3 of the other 4 RB's, which could very well happen. Other than Wallace the other 4 RB's will be RS freshmen and sophs going into the 2026 Fall camp. Should be a spirited competition, especially next Spring, and at this point Martin, Smith and Hayes seem to be the front runners projecting forward for me. But that sure could change if Wallace can win the 3rd RB spot in the next few weeks. Coleman seems like a sure redshirt due to only getting to campus this summer, but he should get enough practice reps in camp and during the season, especially during the bye weeks when the starters many times get multiple practices off such that the Staff will know what they have at RB going into the off season.