Have you ever seen a man sweating bullets under the spotlight? Well, that’s pretty much James Franklin’s life right now. The man’s got all the cards stacked against him heading into the 2025 season. And let’s be real, last season wasn’t just a nightmare—it was a full-blown horror show. Now, whispers are turning into shouts that Franklin better pull off some desperate moves, or he’s about to feel the heat even more. But what’s the big problem, you ask?

On March 9th, College Football insider Josh Pate went off on ‘The Josh Pate Show,’ breaking down Penn State’s biggest headache rolling into 2025: who is going to make those catches? After a rough 2024 season, Pate’s throwing out desperate Hail Marys for Franklin to hit the spring portal like his life depends on it. And, well, he kind of isn’t wrong.

“Most obvious question in the world—what are you going to be at wide receiver?” Pate said, not even tryna sugarcoat it. “What is this, a segment from the last five years?” Straight-up facts. Penn State’s got four or five offensive linemen coming back, their star backfield duo, Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, running it back after both cracked 1,000 yards each last season—a program first. But when it comes to receivers? That cupboard is looking mad empty.

But even legends can’t do it all. Because guess what? Their top receiving weapons are MIA. Tyler Warren, their go-to tight end with a mind-blowing 1,233 yards and 8 touchdowns last season, is heading to the NFL as a projected TE1. And the so-called wide receiver room? Ghost town, man. Their top two receivers—Trey Wallace and Omari Evans—just dipped out through the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Wallace, with his 720 yards and 4 touchdowns, is off to Ole Miss, while Evans, the 5-touchdown guy with 415 yards, packed his bags for the Washington Huskies. Talk about brutal. Josh Pate doubled down: “I don’t know what the post-spring portal window is going to look like, but they—they have got to be in there. They have to be the shark fin in there looking for receivers.”

Franklin tried to patch things up. He grabbed Kyron Hudson from USC and Devonte Ross from Troy. And yeah, the usual suspects are still around—Liam Clifford, Kaden Saunders, and Malik McClain. But real talk? That’s a whole lotta ‘maybe’ and not nearly enough ‘for sure.’ Even KeAndre Lambert-Smith, who led the squad in receiving yards back in 2023, bounced to Auburn right after and balled out so hard he made the All-SEC second team. Franklin’s just watching all his best receivers head out the door, season after season. And now, it’s catch-up time. Literally, and especially after James Franklin’s wide-out recruiting fumble.

James Franklin and Penn State lose their top wide-out target

Just when you think Penn State’s wide receiver room couldn’t get any thinner, bad news comes knocking again. Despite Franklin’s best efforts to stack his receiver deck, they just lost out on a major target for the 2026 class. 4-star wide receiver recruit Connor Salmin, a beast of a 6-foot-1 receiver out of The Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, gave Penn State the stiff-arm and committed to Clemson instead. Ain’t gonna lie, Salmin ain’t no small fish—No. 5 player in Maryland, No. 19 wide receiver in the nation, per 247 Sports’ Composite Rankings. Right now, Penn State is low-key left wondering if anyone legit is even coming through.

Sure, Franklin’s got three wide receivers coming in through the 2025 class, including four-star pass catcher Matthew Outten from Virginia. But the boy needs weapons now, not later. And hitting the spring portal is feeling more and more like the only option. Franklin even admitted earlier this year, “We obviously went into the transfer portal and got some guys as well who have also been impressive. But we’ll have a better idea once we get through winter workouts. We’ll have a better idea through springball.”

The urgency is real. With Penn State kicking off the 2025 season against Nevada on August 30th, Franklin’s gotta cook something up fast. Because right now, his receiver room looks like a deserted wasteland, and the spring portal is the only place he can find salvation. And if he doesn’t make moves? Another disappointing season might just be the final nail in the coffin for his rep at Happy Valley.

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