Kraft: Penn State football needs to go find a wide receiver from the portal

It’s no secret that Penn State football has been searching for a difference-maker at the wide receiver position.  After several partnerships out of the transfer portal produced results with little fruit, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft says James Franklin and the Nittany Lions need to attack the free agency market once again this spring.

With reporters gathered on Monday, Kraft spoke of the delicate balance between using NIL to build a culture rich with in-house talent while also supplementing from the portal in areas of need.

“If you think you’re going to win a national championship and sustain the model by living in the portal, you’re flatly wrong,” he said. “But you have to have the patience to stick with it, and that is something I give James all the credit in the world. He is under enormous pressure, but he stuck with his kids, his guys that he knew and that he trusted. Cael Sanderson sticks with his guys that he knows.

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“I think you got to be in the world that when you lose someone to the NFL, you lose someone as dynamic as Abdul Carter, that is really hard to replace. You’ve got to go backfill. You got to go create depth. You lose, you got injuries, you have different things. So that’s where the portal, I think, comes into play, but you really got to evaluate that.

“We all know we need wide receiver help, so we got to go find one. I think we have some really good ones in the building, but everyone knows that’s not a secret. So you go find that. You’ve got to trust that process…If you can come and help us win and do great things and bring that and maintain the culture here, then great.”

Penn State football already has two transfer receivers in 2025

Incoming Penn State football transfer WR Devonte Ross. © Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

The Penn State passing attack will be filled with new faces and unproven talent when the Nittany Lions take the field against Nevada on August 30. Seventy percent of the roster’s passing production from 2024 is no longer with the program. That includes the Nittany Lions’ top two receivers from last fall, Harrison Wallace and Omari Evans, who both hit the portal this winter.

But James Franklin and the Penn State football coaching staff are already on the same page with their athletic director, adding a pair of portal pass-catchers in January. Devonte Ross and Kyron Hudson arrive in Happy Valley with a combined 1,505 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2024. Together, the six Nittany Lions receivers who caught passes last fall went for 1,640 yards and 12 scores.

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