Depth chart breakdown: Where Penn State football stands on special teams in 2020
Penn State football returns plenty of talent on special teams this season. The Nittany Lions bring back both of their kickers, with one taking on a new role as punter. K.J. Hamler is gone as the team’s electrifying return man but Penn State has plenty of options to stay near his level in the return game.
Let’s take a look at where the team stands on special teams heading into the 2020 season.
Punter/kickoff specialist/long field goal specialist Jordan Stout
Penn State’s most versatile player might be its new punter. Stout already kicked long field goals and kicked off for the Nittany Lions last season, but will now add punting to his list of duties. He’s shown enough in the first two roles to assume his leg strength should be an asset as a punter.
Stout only attempted three field goals last season but made two of them, with all of those attempts coming from beyond 50 yards. One of his two makes was a 57-yarder, which set a Penn State record for the longest field goal made by a Nittany Lion. He doesn’t have a large sample size of field goal attempts but he’s proven he has a powerful leg that can get the Nittany Lions on the board from beyond the usual range for a college kicker.
The junior was even more prolific on kickoffs last season. Stout pounded 66 of his 83 kickoffs for touchbacks, good for fourth in the FBS. He notched 12 of those 66 touchbacks in the season opener against Idaho, setting the tone for what was to come through the rest of the season.
Stout doesn’t have any in-game punting experience at Penn State, but he’s been punting since he picked up football in high school. He said he believes adding punting to his college repertoire will ultimately help him make it to the NFL, but knows he has to be careful about managing his workload.
“In a normal day I hit about 30 punts and 10-20 field goals,” Stout said in June. “But I was probably there for an hour and a half doing that because I would be doing drills. I do a lot of drills because kickers can’t kick that much. It’s just like a pitcher in baseball.”
Short field goal specialist Jake Pinegar
Stout handled long field goals last season but it was Pinegar who took care of most of the team’s attempts. He took every attempt within 50 yards last season as well as all of the team’s extra points.
The junior kicker made 11-of-12 field goal attempts for the Nittany Lions, with his only miss coming against Purdue when he missed from 35 yards out. While Pinegar did most of his work from a much closer range than Stout, he was still able to make a 47-yard attempt against Indiana.
He had similar success on extra points, making 56-of-58 to move himself into No. 7 all-time on Penn State’s leaders in extra points with 109. Pinegar is a very good athlete for a kicker, making the all-state high school team in Iowa as a defensive back in 2016. His athleticism makes it easier for him to repeat his kicking motion and should allow him to continue improving as he moves throughout his Penn State career. More experience will only help him as he continues to refine the finer points of kicking field goals and extra points.
He may not be the team’s current choice to kick long field goals, but Pinegar has proven to be reliable from short distance and has formed an impressive kicking duo with Stout.
Punt returner Jahan Dotson
Penn State could go in a number of directions at punt returner, but the combination of reliability and return upside make Dotson an ideal option. He has reliable hands as a receiver that should translate to the return game — although it’s not a guarantee. Dotson operates well in space and has enough shiftiness to his game to make opponents miss in the open field.
He’s the Nittany Lions likely No. 1 wide receiver this year but the team has shown a willingness to put their best weapon back to return punts. Dotson isn’t a big player at 5-foot-11, 184 pounds, and that could ultimately limit how often he’s back as a returner. Penn State could choose to preserve him in the long run by limiting the number of hits he takes.
If Dotson cedes the job to someone else, freshman running back Caziah Holmes could be an option. He’s an even shiftier player than Dotson and showed he had make-you-miss ability at the high school level in Florida. That should translate to the next level and opens the door for the freshman to contribute early as a special teamer.
Kick returner Journey Brown
Brown may not be the long-term returner this season but he should at least start the season in that role. His value at running back may grow to a point where the risk isn’t worth the reward as a kick returner and a teammate ends up taking over this spot.
For the time being, Brown has experience as a returner and has the long speed to be a major threat to take kicks to the house. He’s one of the fastest players on the team and can get to that top speed relatively quickly. Brown can make guys miss in the open field, run them over or blow by them with his track speed.
While Brown should start the season as the kick returner, he likely won’t retain the full-time job if he becomes the clear top option for Penn State at running back. If he does that, two of his position mates should be leading candidates to replace him. Holmes and sophomore Devyn Ford are both candidates to take the job at any point. Of course, the real question at kick returner is if linebacker Micah Parsons will get his shot. At this point, it feels inevitable that Parsons will return at least one kick this season.
This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 5:02 PM.
