Penn State receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield seeks to maintain the K.J. Hamler standard

Penn State’s spring depth chart was released last Saturday, but wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield warned his players not to pay special attention to it.

In fact, he suggested it was written in water colors that easily could disappear. After all, it is April, and the first game isn’t scheduled to kick off for more than four months.

But for those who must know, Jahan Dotson and Isaac Lutz, David George and Cam Sullivan-Brown and T.J. Jones and John Dunmore are 1-2, respectively, at each of the three wide receiver positions.

“It is ever-changing,” said Stubblefield, who knows a little about moving onward and upward after setting NCAA and Big Ten receiving records at Purdue and embarking on a coaching career that finds him at his 11th stop since 2007.

“I told the guys who are at the top, ‘Do not sit there and beat your chest (and say), I made it.’ If you are third- or fourth-string guy right now … don’t put your head down and say, ‘Dang, I don’t have a chance.’

“I hope everybody is motivated to keep it where they’re at or to change it.”

Stubblefield was hired in January to replace Gerad Parker, who left to become offensive coordinator at West Virginia.

First of order of business: find a way to maintain the standard set last season by KJ Hamler, who averaged 16.1 receiving yards, scored a touchdown once every seven catches and is projected to be an early-round pick in the NFL Draft that starts Thursday night.

Losing Hamler and Justin Shorter, who transferred to Florida, leaves Penn State without much experience at receiver.

Dotson, a junior, is the leading returner, with five touchdowns among his 27 receptions for 488 yards. But he is the only returning wide receiver who reached double-digit catches.

“Whatever is said about last year’s team, who had a phenomenal year, this is 2020,” Stubblefield said, “and we have guys in the room who need to take the next step in their career and produce. They have to be ready to make a big play.”

Preparing to fill the void left by Hamler will be especially difficult with spring practice canceled and no scheduled time for players to get together to work on their own.

But Stubblefield believes Dotson (5-foot-11, 184 pounds) has the necessary tools to ascend to the next level.

“Jahan is much more athletic than I ever was,” Stubblefield said.

Which says a lot for what Dotson could achieve.

With his so-called limited physical gifts — “I was more of a technical skill guy,” he said — Stubblefield was a consensus All-American and Biletnikoff Award finalist who left Purdue after the 2004 season with an NCAA-record 316 receptions for the second-most yards in Big Ten history (3,629). The NCAA record lasted until 2011, but it still is the most receptions by any Big Ten pass catcher.

Coaches are hoping Dotson can become the leader of the group — on and off the field — but it won’t be easy.

“The natural leader would be somebody like a Jahan,” Stubblefield said. “I don’t think Jahan is somebody who likes to be extremely vocal. He’s kind of a quiet guy who likes to do what he’s supposed to do.

“Are we challenging him on that? Absolutely, but in a way he’s comfortable with.”

Others also could step up. Stubblefield said teammates respect the work ethic shown by George and Lutz, and senior Justin Weller is a “pretty smart guy.”

“When guys have questions, they come to him,” Stubblefield said.

Stubblefield also is intrigued by freshmen KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Jaden Dottin, who enrolled early to participate in the spring practice that ultimately was canceled.

“He has something different in him,” he said of Lambert-Smith. “He has a little bit of that mentality of he hates to lose. Everybody wants to win. But who hates to lose?”

Of Dottin, he said, “When you talk to him off the field, he’s kind of calm, kind of very collected, and I’m excited to see him flip that switch when he gets on the field and have that dog come out of him.”