April 12 – Penn State could very well put up a Help Wanted sign for wide receivers.
Matt Zenitz of 247 Sports reported Friday that KeAndre Lambert-Smith was absent from the team this week, the final week of spring football practice, and is strongly considering entering the transfer portal.
Lambert-Smith led the Nittany Lions last season with 53 receptions for 673 yards and four touchdowns, but has caught just two passes in the last four games.
He emptied his locker room in the Lasch Building, a source told the Reading Eagle. He has not been available for interviews since early November.
The news comes one day before the annual Blue-White game, Saturday at 2pm (TV-Big Ten Network) at Beaver Stadium.
“I think he had a good spring,” Penn State coach James Franklin said two weeks ago about Lambert-Smith. “He’s shown some real flashes. I’m seeing them more consistently. I think Coach K (new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki) has done a good job with him as well.
“Obviously we need him to have a big year and we hope he has a big year.”
The position was a sore spot last season for Penn State. Lambert-Smith was the only wide receiver to finish with more than 22 receptions. In the Lions’ last four games, wideouts have caught just 20 passes.
Penn State brought in former Southern Columbia star Julian Fleming from Ohio State to add depth to the position and provide leadership, which sources said was lacking in cap space last year.
“The whole group has improved,” Franklin said last month. “I’d still like to see a group of guys really separate from the pack. I think we need more of that.”
If this sounds familiar, it’s because he expressed very similar sentiments many times last year during spring training and preseason camp. His observations turned out to be an omen of things to come.
Penn State doesn’t have a receiver from its 2020-23 recruiting classes who has emerged as an elite player at that position. Lambert-Smith and Harrison Wallace III are the closest, but Lambert-Smith has been hampered by inconsistency and Wallace by injuries. Wallace had 19 receptions for 228 yards and a touchdown in eight games last year.
“Tre (Wallace) has always been super athletic,” Franklin said last month. “Losing him for a period of time (to a leg injury) hurt us. He’s one of those guys we’ve seen as a starter for a while.”
Lambert-Smith, who was a four-star recruit out of Norfolk, Virginia, was effective as a complementary receiver alongside Jahan Dotson and Parker Washington in 2021 and Washington and Mitchell Tinsley in 2022. He got off to a strong start last season before fading.
Multiple sources said Lambert-Smith became unhappy as the season progressed. There was speculation that he could be transferred after not catching a pass against Mississippi in the Peach Bowl and being targeted only once.
Now all signs point to him going elsewhere, which would leave the Lions without a wide receiver who caught more than the 26 passes last year, the number Fleming had at Ohio State.
It seems unlikely that a Division I wideout will be available through the transfer portal between now and the start of preseason camp in August.
Lambert-Smith’s apparent departure couldn’t have caught Franklin and his staff off guard, which raises the question of why the Lions didn’t pursue wide receivers more vigorously when the portal window opened in December and early January.
“I didn’t really feel like we needed to go out and do much in the transfer portal,” Franklin said last month on the first day of spring practice. “But we needed to make sure we had enough competition at every position to bring out the best in these guys.”
He then said that he and his staff “fully anticipate and expect” some of the veteran receivers to “take the next step.”
That remains to be seen. Penn State’s hopes of reaching the expanded College Football Playoff depend on it.
