Trebor Pena was Syracuse’s leading touchdown scorer in 2024.
Penn State knew it needed to restock at the wide receiver position this offseason with help from the transfer portal. Despite adding two players to the receiver room from the portal recently, the Nittany Lions added another key piece to the receiver position with the commitment and signing of former Syracuse wide receiver Trebor Pena.
Pena was Syracuse’s second-leading receiver in the 2024 season with 941 receiving yards and led the Orange with 84 receptions and 9 touchdowns caught. Pena enrolled at Syrcause in 2020 and entered the transfer portal earlier this month. He will have one year of eligibility to use with the Nittany Lions. Pena committed to Penn State over offers from Miami and West Coast Big Ten members USC and UCLA.
The lack of productivity from the wide receiver position last season, and the previous season, were in the spotlight for Penn State last season. The biggest shortcomings for the Nittany Lions in the biggest games played the last couple of seasons have come at the lack of big plays out of the receiver position. This was magnified last season when wide receivers accounted for zero passes in the College Football Playoff loss to Notre Dame.
It is safe to say Penn State has tried its hardest to address that concern for offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki with the transfer portal. While also losing its top wide receivers from last year’s roster (Harrison Wallace transferred to Ole Miss and Omari Evans is transferring to Washington), Penn State has added Kyron Hudson from USC and Devonte Ross from Troy. Both Hudson and Ross participated in the spring practices to get some time catching passes from returning starting quarterback Drew Allar.
Now Allar will have a third option to count on in the fall. On paper, Penn State’s wide receiver group is well ahead of where it was a year ago at this time. But how well will that translate on the field against live competition? That could be the biggest key to a successful season for the Nittany Lions.
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