Former Purdue WR Taylor Stubblefield joins Penn State Nittany Lions as receivers coach
It didn’t take Penn State football long to find its new wide receivers coach.
Former Purdue All-American Taylor Stubblefield, who spent last season coaching the Miami Hurricanes’ receivers, was announced Sunday afternoon as the Nittany Lions’ newest assistant coach, a little more than a week after losing its last coach. The Big Ten’s all-time leading receiver — with 325 catches for 3,629 yards — has coached the position since 2007.
“It’s a great honor to join Coach (James) Franklin and the Penn State football family,” Stubblefield said in a written statement. “As a product of the Big Ten, I embrace the magnitude of coaching at one of the premier programs in the nation and in one of the most accomplished conferences in all of college football. My family and I are fired up to call State College home.”
Stubblefield is Penn State’s fourth receivers coach in four seasons, succeeding Gerad Parker — who coached the 2019 season before leaving Jan. 10 for a promotion to offensive coordinator at West Virginia. Parker replaced David Corley, who was let go after a sub-par 2018 campaign. And Corley came after Josh Gattis, who bolted for Alabama after 2017.
“Taylor really separated himself during the interview process and we are thrilled about the future of our wide receivers under his guidance,” Franklin said in a news release.
Stubblefield will face an interesting challenge in 2020. With star KJ Hamler declaring early for the NFL draft, and former five-star prospect Justin Shorter entering the transfer portal, there are plenty of question marks at wide receiver. Jahan Dotson appears to be the new No. 1, but no other receiver has a stranglehold on a starting spot.
In fact, with three rising redshirt freshmen and five incoming true freshmen, there could be a few new faces in the lineup.
In the short term, Stubblefield — a journeyman coach — will have to get acclimated to Happy Valley. This will be his 11th stop in 13 years.
After finishing his playing career with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2006, he went on to coach Central Washington in 2007 and Eastern Michigan in 2008. From there, he never spent more than two seasons at a single school — with stints at Illinois State, Central Michigan, New Mexico, Wake Forest, Utah, Air Force and Miami (Fla.). He also coached the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts in 2016.
He has always been a wide receivers coach.
Stubblefield played at Purdue from 2001-2004, catching at least 70 passes for 750 yards in each of his four seasons. He held the NCAA receptions record until Oklahoma’s Ryan Bryoles broke it in 2011.
Stubblefield completes the Penn State coaching staff, as it was forced to replace three assistants this offseason. Former offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne left to become Old Dominion’s head coach and was replaced by Kirk Ciarrocca, and former offensive line coach Matt Limegrover was let go and was replaced by Phil Trautwein.
This story was originally published January 19, 2020 at 1:23 PM.
