Penn State's Receivers Have Taken a 'Huge Step Forward,' Drew Allar Says

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar returned to a drastically different receivers room for his senior season. His top two wideouts, in terms of catches, transferred from the program. The veteran presence, Julian Fleming, looks to start anew in the NFL. Not to mention the loss of tight end Tyler Warren, who caught 104 of his 262 completions last season.

The Nittany Lions' rebuilt receivers room features two transfers (and potentially one more), a fifth-year senior in Liam Clifford, some young untested talent and three early enrollees. On a conference call ahead of the Blue-White Game, Allar discussed all that change, where the room is headed and why he believes the receivers hae taken a "huge step forward."

On transfers Kyron Hudson and Devonte Ross: Kyron and Devonte have been really good additions, not only as players, but I think they fit that room really well as people. They're very fun to be around and they mesh together with that whole receiving room.

On the receivers' progress: That receiving room has really taken a step forward. It's been cool to see guys that I've been here with for a little bit now taking the next step in their progressions. But also seeing the young receivers, the guys that were here last year as true freshmen and also the three mid-year [enrollees] we have, they've done a really good job.

And I give a lot of credit to Coach K [offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki], [receivers] coach [Marques] Hagans and coach [James] Franklin for really providing that room with a lot of opportunity and just giving them chances to improve themselves and also prove themselves. Throughout this spring so far, they've taken a huge step forward, and I'm really excited about that room and where they're at right now and where I see them going.

On true freshman Koby Howard: Koby can do special things. When you get him the ball, he makes guys miss and he can go up and climb the ladder and really make contested catches. So I've been really impressed with him. He's had a really good spring so far. Now for him, it's going to be continuing to learn the offense and just refine his craft, because he has a lot of potential, and I think he's going to do a lot of good things for us, not only this year, but in his future as well.

On what Hudson and Ross bring to the field: That's the one thing about us as a program. We bring guys in that love football and just want to get better every day. And they're always getting better. [For Hudson], I think his ability to make contested catches has been really cool to see throughout spring so far.

Obviously we go against a really good secondary every day. So [it's] just getting on the same page with him, talking through routes before and after practice. And then the same with Devonte. Similar to Koby, when you get the ball in Devonte's hands, he can make a lot of guys miss in open space, which we need. So he's done a really phenomenal job throughout this spring so far.

I'm looking forward to building my connection and relationship with them going into the summer but also the rest of the receivers room, like Kaden [Saunders], [Anthony] Ivey, Liam, those guys have done a really good job throughout this spring as well. So I'm really excited about where that room's at, and where we're going to be going into the summer.