Tag: Dante Cephas

Report Card: Grading Penn State’s dominant Week 2 win vs. Delaware

Grading Penn State’s performance against Delaware in Week 2

There are some weeks in the course of a college football season where you can probably fill out the postgame report card ahead of time and not have to worry about it. Penn State’s Week 2 matchup against Delaware was one of those games where you hoped things would go as planned and you wouldn’t have to worry about too many issues against an FCS program.

And they did.

Penn State’s offense and defense each took care of business against the Blue Hens in the first all-time meeting between the two schools. Delaware may go on to have a solid season in the FCS championship hunt, but they were overmatched in every facet of the game against Penn State, which is also hoping to set the tone for what they hope will be a playoff push of their own this season.

It may have been a home game against an FCS program collecting a solid check, but Penn State did just about everything you would expect a top-10 team to do in this situation. Here are the grades for Penn State’s performance following its 63-7 victory over Delaware.

Quarterback

Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Grade: A

After being named the Big Ten offensive player of the week, [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] picked up right where he left off a week ago. The touchdown pass count was down but Allar completed 22 of 26 pass attempts for 204 yards with a touchdown pass (and a touchdown run) for a fine outing before getting an early rest in the second half.

Allar showed great vision and patience and just made smart throws that were taking advantage of the holes Delaware’s defense was giving him.

Backup quarterback Beau Pribula played for most of the second half in relief of Allar. Pribula attempted five attempts with three completions for 22 yards and a short touchdown in the fourth quarter. Pribula added to the ground attack with

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No. 7 Penn State sends West Virginia down country woes, 38-15

Drew Allar’s solid debut as Penn State’s starting QB leads PSU over West Virginia to open the season.

The start of the [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] was a pretty good one. After being officially announced as the starting quarterback with about 25 minutes to go to kickoff, Allar passed for 325 yards and three touchdowns as No. 7 Penn State (1-0) topped West Virginia (0-1) on Saturday night in Beaver Stadium, 38-15.

Allar opened the game with a 72-yard touchdown pass to [autotag]KeAndre Lambert-Smith[/autotag] on Penn State’s first offensive series of the season, but things slowed down for a bit after that for the Penn State offense. Penn State added a second touchdown in the first half with a rushing touchdown from [autotag]Nick Singleton[/autotag], last year’s Big Ten freshman of the year.

Allar and Lambert-Smith connected for a second time for a touchdown in the third quarter, extending Penn State’s lead on West Virginia to 21-7 at the time. Allar would add a third touchdown pass later in the game with a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to transfer addition [autotag]Malik McClain[/autotag].

Lambert-Smith led all players with 123 receiving yards and two touchdowns. But the rest of the receiving unit had some good moments as well. [autotag]Harrison Wallace III[/autotag] had seven receptions for 72 yards. McClain ended the night with 58 yards in his Penn State debut. [autotag]Dante Cephas[/autotag], another key transfer addition this past offseason, had one catch for 22 yards in his first game with the Nittany Lions.

Penn State’s dynamic running back combo of Singleton and [autotag]Kaytron Allen[/autotag] had their moments, although neither eclipsed the century mark in the season opener. Singleton rushed for 70 yards and a touchdown and Allen added 51 yards on 10 carries. Both backs caught a pass as well, with Allen adding a 15-yard gain to his all-purpose yardage on the night.

Linebacker [autotag]Curtis Jacobs[/autotag] had a busy night with 10 total tackles, including seven solo tackles and a sack. Penn State had six tackles for a loss with three sacks.

West Virginia got a gritty effort from quarterback Garrett Greene. Greene passed for 162 yards and rushed for 61 yards with a touchdown on the ground. Running back CJ Donaldson Jr. led the Mountaineers with 81 yards and a late touchdown run. Transfer wide receiver addition Devin Carter, who at one point in the offseason was committed to Penn State out of the transfer portal from NC State, was West Virginia’s leading receiver with 90 yards on six catches.

The season-opening win had some positive energy to build on, and we can probably assume the offense is going to be in pretty good shape moving forward after watching things settle into place as the game went on. But head coach James Franklin will surely have some teaching moments to expand on with his players heading into Week 2.

Penn State will stay home next week for a matchup with the Delaware Blue Hens. It will be the first matchup with the FCS program in school history in football. Delaware won its season opener, 37-13, at Stony Brook in Week 1.

Penn State will visit West Virginia to open the 2024 season in the second half of this home-and-home scheduling agreement.

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Where is Dante Cephas on Penn State’s depth chart?

Where will Dante Cephas fit on the Penn State depth chart this fall?

After the departure of [autotag]Parker Washington[/autotag] and [autotag]Mitchell Tinsley[/autotag] to the NFL after last year’s season, Penn State’s wide receiver depth chart was full of inexperienced players. Returners [autotag]Keandre Lambert-Smith[/autotag] and [autotag]Harrison Wallace[/autotag] combined for 43 receptions and 662 yards.

The Nittany Lions hit the transfer portal bringing in [autotag]Dante Cephas[/autotag] from Kent State. In two seasons as a starter, he caught 130 balls for 1,984 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Like Tinsley the year prior, Cephas is expected to step in and make an immediate impact for Penn State this season.

Reports out of training camp suggest he has gotten off to a slow start, causing him to be in the rotation of players competing for the final starting spot. Lambert-Smith and Wallace are two of the expected starters with an opening still available to be earned.

[autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] was asked about where Cephas stands on the depth chart in his recent availability to the media and he reiterated this point saying, “Yeah, he’s in that group that’s battling. We got a competitive group of four to five guys that are battling — he’s apart of that conversation.”

When making the transition from a smaller conference to the Power 5 level, it’s an adjustment adapting to the increased speed and athleticism. It’s harder to get open and compete physically against defensive backs. On top of that, Franklin is a coach who emphasizes the need to compete at practice, something Cephas is learning about.

“It’s not saying that he’s not a big time player, but there’s a difference between getting up one or two days a week, or one or two times a year in a season vs. coming out here every single day with that type of competitiveness that you need to be successful,” Franklin said.

Cephas is going to have plenty of opportunities to work his way into a starting role with Penn State this season. He’s a talented player who should make an impact once he gets used to the different level of competition it takes to play in the Big 10.

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The hype for Dante Cephas appears to have faded

Penn State may have a stiff battle for starting jobs at wide receiver leading up to the start of the season.

It was really easy to suggest wide receiver Dante Cephas was going to fit right into the Penn State offense and be the primary go-to receiver once he officially made the move to the Nittany Lions out of the transfer portal. But the hype seems to have fizzled leading up to the start of the college football season based on reports coming out of Penn State’s fall camp. And judging by one unofficial depth chart prediction, there may not even be a guarantee Cephas will be a starter for the Penn State offense this fall.

Now, before we get too deep into reading between the lines based on looks from media availabilities and an open practice two weeks before the season officially gets underway, let’s acknowledge that there is still a possibility Cephas ends up being Penn State’s top wide receiver. But if competition is what head coach James Franklin preaches, then Cephas appears to have some stiff competition for playing time in 2023.

Cephas is the only Penn State player to land on the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award this season, and it is easy to see why he was included. Cephas is two years removed from a season with 1,240 receiving yards and nine touchdowns for Kent State, and he caught 48 passes for 744 yards in nine games for the Golden Flashes last season. With Penn State losing two top receivers to the NFL from last year’s roster, it was easy to assume Cephas would slide right in and keep the production going.

But early looks from the media in practices and an open practice recently suggest Cephas may not be the go-to receiver it was assumed would be the case. Cephas reportedly has not been getting first-team reps in practices observed by the media, and his lack of activity in a recent open practice certainly raised a few eyebrows.

So is this reason to be concerned for Penn State fans? It could be, but it may also be encouraging to know there are other options taking advantage of the opportunities in practice like Harrison Wallace and Omari Evans, who was the top performer in the Blue-White Game in the spring.

Lions247 published an unofficial depth chart prediction and noted Cephas could be battling Malick Meiga for the second spot on the depth chart at one wide receiver position behind Wallace. He could also be battling fellow transfer Malik McClain for another spot behind Evans. Odds are probably pretty good Cephas will be no worst than second on the depth chart at one of the receiver positions, and he could very well end up being a starter for the Nittany Lions when the season officially kicks off against West Virginia.

This could be a good sign for the overall talent available at the receiver position, or it could raise some concerns that one of the top transfer additions may not be good enough to be higher than third on the depth chart.

No matter what Penn State has in mind, we’ll start seeing how this position plays out beginning on Saturday, Sept. 2 in a primetime matchup with West Virginia.

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Dante Cephas named to Biletnikoff Award watch list

Penn State’s Bobby Engram won the first Biletnikoff Award. Dante Cephas is on the watch list hoping to join him in 2023.

One of Penn State’s newest additions on offense is already on the radar for the top honor at his position in the 2023 college football season. Penn State wide receiver [autotag]Dante Cephas[/autotag] has been named to the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award.

Cephas transferred to Penn State from Kent State in this offseason, and he is expected to step right into a leading role on the offense.

Cephas had 48 receptions for 744 yards and three touchdowns in nine games last season for Kent State. The previous season, in 2021, Cephas had 82 catches for 1,240 yards and nine touchdowns in 14 games played.

Cephas comes to Penn State looking to help fill a bit of a hole in the passing game after losing two starting wide receivers to the NFL (Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley). Cephas will join new teammate KeAndre Lambert-Smith as the top receiving targets for Penn State’s new starting quarterback, which is expected to be sophomore Drew Allar.

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The Biletnikoff Award was first presented in 1994 when Penn State’s Bobby Engram was honored as the nation’s top wide receiver. He remains the only Biletnikoff Award in Penn State history.

The last Big Ten wide receiver to win the Biletnikoff Award was Braylon Edwards of Michigan in 2004. Last year’s recipient of the Biletnikoff Award was Jalin Hyatt of Tennessee.

Any player who catches a pass is eligible for the Biletnikoff Award regardless of position, but no player outside of the wide receiver position has won the award in the history of the award.

Semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award will be announced in November and three finalists will be voted on by a selection committee and announced in late November. The winner of this year’s Biletnikoff Award will be announced during The Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 7.

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Penn State football 2023 award watch list tracker

Penn State football college football award watch list tracker for 2023

Penn State is gearing up for a potentially exciting college football season. With a roster full of talented individuals across the roster, it is no wonder that so many players have been receiving various degrees of preseason hype leading into the fall.

Before fall camps opened up, the watch lists for a number of college football awards were released to help generate some enthusiasm and excitement about some of college football’s top players at every position. Not surprisingly, a number of Penn State players received some recognition from the watch list announcements. But keeping tabs on every single college football award watch list can be difficult if you don’t know when they are being announced. But we’ll help you out by keeping tabs on every watch list we come across and let you know what players are appearing on which list.

And if you don’t know what an award is specifically for, we’ll keep you informed on that as well.

Here is a look at each Penn State player who has appeared on a watch list for the upcoming season, and which lists they have appeared. This will be updated accordingly as watch list announcements continue to be made.

Top five Big Ten football offensive transfers for 2023

The Big Ten has some intriguing offensive playmakers arriving from the transfer portal #B1G

Welcome to college football in 2023 where the transfer portal is a key factor in building a successful and winning program. This season many big names came to the Big Ten and an intriguing number of them are quarterbacks or offensive skill players.

Evaluating transfers is a bit like evaluating recruiting, it’s not necessarily about snagging the big fish such as Sam Hartman, but making sure the guy you snag can fill a need and fit a role the team needs.

We see many schools grab transfer after transfer, and they flame out not because of their lack of talent, but because the situation was not a great fit to begin with

Here are the five incoming transfers that should check every box as a difference maker for their new team.

2023 Penn State football snapshot profile: No. 3 Dante Cephas

After losing its top two receivers to the NFL, Penn State should have a new leading receiver with this former MAC star from the transfer portal.

Going into the 2023 football season, Nittany Lions Wire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Penn State roster. Over the preseason, each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for James Franklin this season.

Continuing this effort is a look at one of the newest additions to the roster by way of the transfer portal, wide receiver [autotag]Dante Cephas[/autotag]. Cephas joins the Nittany Lions from Kent State in the MAC, where he was a highly productive receiver for the Golden Flashes. Cephas comes to Penn State with the expectation of stepping right into a key role in the offense after Penn State loses a pair of its top receivers to the NFL.

Here is a snapshot look at Cephas entering the 2023 college football season.

PFF’s preseason All-Big Ten team includes three Penn State players

Here is every Penn State player to appear on the PFF preseason All-Big Ten team for 2023

With Big Ten media days quickly approaching, the preseason preview blitz is on everywhere you look. On Tuesday, Pro Football Focus released a handful of preseason all-conference selections for the 2023 college football season. Among the teams shared by PFF was the Big Ten, with three Nittany Lions making the cut.

Just one Penn State player appeared on PFF’s 2023 preseason All-Big Ten first team. It should come as no surprise it was offensive tackle Olumuyiwa Fashanu, whom many consider to be a first-round draft pick in the 2024 NFL draft. Fashanu’s decision to return for another year of college football stunned draft analysts as he could have potentially been a first-round draft pick this year.

Perhaps the biggest offensive player not making the first team cut may be sophomore running back Nick Singleton, but the Big Ten preseason list would have been tough to make with Braelon Allen of Wisconsin and Blake Corum of Michigan in the mix. However, Singleton did make the second-team cut.

Penn State landed two defensive players on the PFF preseason All-Big Ten first team roster. Defensive end Chop Robinson and cornerback Kalen King each made the list. Like Fashanu, Robinson and King could be potential first-round draft picks in 2024, so their inclusions on the preseason All-Big Ten list are not surprising.

The biggest first team snub here may have been for linebacker Abdul Carter, one of the top linebackers in the Big Ten in 2023. Carter did make the second team from PFF, and if a third linebacker spot was included, then maybe he would have been on the first team.

Penn State players on PFF’s preseason all-Big Ten third team included quarterback Drew Allar, wide receiver Dante Cephas, tight end Theo Johnson, offensive tackle Caedan Wallace, linebacker Curtis Jacobs, and cornerback Johnny Dixon. Singleton was also included on the third team as a return specialist for good measure.

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Where are Penn State’s WRs in College Sports Wire’s best Big Ten receivers list?

Was Penn State snubbed in College Sports Wire ranking of the top Big Ten receivers in 2023?

With under 100 days left before the start of college football season, coaching staffs, media, fans and everyone involved with the sport are starting to project what will happen during the 2023 season.

College Sports Wire has been ranking players at their positions from each conference and recently completed their list for the best Big Ten wide receivers.

Throughout the offseason, one of the biggest question marks surrounding Penn State was about their wide receiver group. After losing [autotag]Parker Washington[/autotag] and [autotag]Mitchell Tinsley[/autotag] to the NFL Draft, questions about the overall talent and depth at the position were pervasive.

Here are the top wide receivers according to College Sports Wire.

  1. Marvin Harrison Jr. – Ohio State (77 rec, 1,263 yds, 14 TDs)
  2. Emeka Egbuka – Ohio State (74 rec, 1,151 yds, 10 TDs)
  3. Isaiah Williams – Illinois (82 rec, 715 yds, 5 TDs)
  4. Chimere Dike – Wisconsin (47 rec, 689 yds, 6 TDs)
  5. Tyrese Chambers – Maryland (51 rec, 544 yds, 4 TDs)
  6. Cornelius Johnson – Michigan (32 rec, 499 yds, 6 TDs)
  7. Chris Autman-Bell – Minnesota (11 rec, 214 yds, 1 TD)
  8. Corey Crooms Jr – Minnesota (57 rec, 814 yds, 5 TDs)
  9. Jeshaun Jones – Maryland (44 rec, 557 yds, 4 TDs)
  10. Billy Kemp IV – Nebraska (16 rec, 116 yds, 0 TDs)
  11. Julian Fleming – Ohio State (34 rec, 533 yds, 6 TDs)
  12. Naseim Brantley – Rutgers (53 rec, 893 yds, 9 TDs)

It should come as no surprise that Penn State doesn’t have any of the top players on the list from College Sports Wire, but they did not have any of their receivers make the list.

KeAndre Lambert-Smith did make it as an honorable mention, but it’s still shocking to not see any Nittany Lions listed as a top 12 player in the conference. Lambert-Smith is expected to take the next step this season and will be helped out by projected starter and Toledo transfer [autotag]Dante Cephas[/autotag].

Here are both their numbers from last season in comparison to others on the list.

  • Lambert-Smith: 24 rec, 389 yds, 4 TDs
  • Cephas: 48 rec, 744 yds, 3 TDs

When looking at both of their numbers, it’s safe to say both have arguements to be included on the list of best receivers in the Big Ten. Lambert-Smith has put up numbers as a tertiary option that match and exceed some of the players on this list. Cephas has the fourth most yards on this list when looking at last season’s numbers.

The good news is that the Penn State wide receivers can go out and show they deserve to be included at top receivers in the Big Ten this season. At the end of the day, this is a preseason list.

Once the season starts, they can go out prove how good they are in this conference.

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