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Penn State Nittany Lions wide receiver Kyron Hudson runs with the ball during the third quarter of the Blue-White Game at Beaver Stadium. Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Penn State's Wide Receivers Make a New Pact for 2025

Originally posted on Penn State Nittany Lions on SI
By Chase Fisher | Last updated Jul 31, 2025 6:11 AM ET

“Burn the boats.” Three simple words that describe the pact Penn State wide receivers coach Marques Hagans and his group made in the offseason.

The saying, while short, has a rich history dating to the 1500s. Essentially it means, time to commit — and in Hagans’ terms, “we’re just gonna focus on whatever this team needs us to do to win.”

“I get it,” Hagans said. “People are passionate about football here, and I know that folks, right, wrong or indifferent, there’s been a negative association with the receivers. And quite frankly, I hear it. But we’re not gonna allow that to infiltrate who we are. Like, we’re here to work. We’re here to find a way to get better. That’s what we’re gonna focus on. And I think, more than anything, this year, we made a pact to say, ‘We’re gonna burn the f—--- boats, excuse my language.”

Hagans, in his third season at Penn State, understands the scrutiny. His receivers made headlines with their zero-reception, five-target performance in Penn State’s 27-24 loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. Last season, Penn State’s top receivers recorded 102 catches, two fewer than tight end Tyler Warren.

How could a team with minimal wide receiver production win a national championship? Penn State coach James Franklin attempted to change that narrative this offseason by remaking the room, using the transfer portal in both directions.

Three receivers transferred out, three transferred in. Franklin received commitments from USC’s Kyron Hudson from USC, Troy’s Devonte Ross and Syracuse’s Trebor Peña.

“They've been great for our room,” Penn State quarterback Drew Allar said. “The one thing about all of them is, they came in and put their heads down and worked. They were not coming in entitled to anything. They earned everybody's respect, from the players’ standpoint, on the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball, and the coaching staff. Those guys will put their head down and work, and they're unselfish and that sort of way.”

The flip side of that means the receivers room has little experience within the program. Outside of wideouts Liam Clifford and Kaden Saunders, Penn State is filled with receivers who have been in the program for no more than one season. But the receivers can chart their course now. Hagans said it’s time to bury the past and the outside noise.

“I wouldn’t say that we weren’t having fun before, but I think the guys kind of allowed outside things to infiltrate the fun,” Hagans said. “... That’s in the past. But as of right now, I think the guys are in a really good place. We’ve added great guys to the room. You know, the freshman class is a really good class. And I think everybody’s embracing what we want 2025 to be, not what ‘24, ‘23, ‘20 anything before that [was].

“Everything is history, right? Right now, we’re just in the middle of making our statement, of continuing to show each other we’re going to be our best every day, holding each other accountable to that. And that’s all we’re focusing on.”

Whether it’s Clifford entering his fifth year at Penn State or the transfers entering their first, the room is putting its head down and getting to work. Some wideouts have seen it all — in Clifford’s case, it’s the highs of playoff wins and the lows of excruciating defeats on the biggest stages. Others haven’t even donned the blue and white yet.

But what they all have in common is their commitment to the program and their teammates. They’re in it for one goal: to win a national championship.

“I think that, for guys that have been around here long enough, guys like Liam, they’ve seen the best, they’ve seen the worst, and we owe it to each other to really commit to being the best that we can be,” Hagans said. “But also finding a way to really enjoy this time. This will be the best time of our lives, whether people write about it or not, but we've got to enjoy this. We've got to come to work with a purpose to help our team win.

“But we've also got to enjoy the relationships that we fostered throughout this time. And nobody says [it's] gonna be easy. Nobody said it’s gonna be fair, but we've just gotta show up and we've got a job to do. But it doesn’t mean we can’t have fun and we can’t enjoy being around each other, and that’s more so what burn the boats means.”

This article first appeared on Penn State Nittany Lions on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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