The early signing period for football prospects in the Class of 2020 is upon us, and Penn State is expected to bring in a larger-than-usual class throughout the day. On the Penn State blog today, I’ll be breaking down each of the signees. Here is my scouting report on receiver Jaden Dottin.
Height: 6-3
Weight: 181
School: Suffield Academy (Conn.)
Projected position: Receiver
Rating: Four stars by 247sports and ESPN; Three stars by Rivals.com
Other offers: Boston College, Connecticut, Duke, Michigan, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia, Wake Forest.
Projection: Dottin has the look of an old-school, big receiver who is willing to make plays over the middle and move the chains. As a route-runner, he’s both precise and crafty. He seems to have a sense of when his quarterback is in trouble and finds his way to the open spot to make himself available. Every prep receiver looks like they have good hands on their highlight films, but Dottin makes enough tough catches to show that he indeed has a knack for holding on to the ones he should. For a bigger receiver, he’s much quicker than he is fast, though. But if he can add some explosion in the strength program at Penn State and make himself a more consistent deep threat, he has the chance to be a pretty good all-around receiver for the Nittany Lions. He’ll probably redshirt in 2020 while he works to make it happen, but could be one of those players who gets into four games.
Donnie Collins has been a member of The Times-Tribune sports staff for nearly 20 years and has been the Penn State football beat writer for Times-Shamrock Newspapers since 2004. The Penn State Football Blog covers Nittany Lions, Big Ten and big-time college football news from Beaver Stadium to the practice field, the bowl game to National Letter of Intent Signing Day. Contact: dcollins@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5368; @DonnieCollinsTT