Penn State football’s overhaul of its wide receivers room for 2025 is in full swing. The Nittany Lions’ top two receivers reportedly will enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, thus making running back Nicholas Singleton the team’s returning leader in receptions for next season.
CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz first reported that Trey Wallace, a redshirt junior who caught 46 passes last season, will enter the NCAA Transfer Portal. And Omari Evans, who caught 21 passes, told Hayes Fawcett of On3 that he will enter the portal. Evans no longer is listed on Penn State’s online roster, along with former receivers Mehki Flowers and Tyler Johnson. With Julian Fleming out of eligibility, Penn State’s receivers room will return one player who caught more than two passes last season: Liam Clifford is the top returning receiver (18 catches, 286 yards). Singleton leads all returning pass-catchers with 41 receptions for 375 yards.
Wallace and Evans made a combined 26 starts and were among the receivers’ consistent leaders in snaps last season. However, they finished their Penn State careers without a reception in the Orange Bowl, punctuating an inconsistent season regarding productivity from the position. Tight end Tyler Warren led Penn State with a program-record 104 receptions, while the entire receivers room combined for 102 catches. No receiver caught a pass in the Orange Bowl. No receiver caught more than four passes in a postseason game (Wallace had four catches each vs. Oregon and SMU) and no receiver caught more than five passes in a game all season. Warren did that 10 times, including his memorable 17-catch game at USC.
Wallace, a former 4-star recruit from the 2021 recruiting class, began the season with a five-catch, 117-yard, two-touchdown performance at West Virginia. The game heralded a breakthrough season for Wallace that never materialized. He caught just two touchdown passes the remainder of the year, and his best yardage game thereafter was against Washington (five catches, 84 yards).
Penn State positioned Evans as the deep threat in its offense, and he averaged a team-high 19.8 yards per catch. Evans also had the team’s longest touchdown catch of the year (59 yards vs. Kent State) and led Penn State’s receivers room in receptions of 30+ yards (five). Evans caught a 38-yard touchdown pass against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, leading coach James Franklin to say before the Orange Bowl that Evans’ confidence is “soaring right now.”
“I’m proud of him. He is blocking, he’s being physical. He’s making plays vertically down the field, and I think we’re using them in the right way,” Franklin said. “And as he continues to make plays, and his confidence is soaring right now, then you’re going to see the other plays [that he can make]. I don’t think Omari is anywhere close to where he can be. I think as we continue to play this year, he’s going to just keep getting better.”
Penn State has added two receivers from the transfer portal, including former USC wideout Kyron Hudson, and has recruited three wide receivers in the 2025 class.
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