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WRs leap into spotlight

DUBLIN – DaeSean Hamilton is a confident young man, as all college football players are, but even in his best-case scenario, he didn’t envision having such a magnificent Penn State debut.

“To be honest, no,” the receiver said with a big smile. “I was hoping I would go out there and make the plays that would come to me. Then after the first catch, I started getting into a groove.”

He got into some groove, all right.

Hamilton enjoyed the greatest receiving day ever for a PSU freshman, setting records for catches (11) and yards (165) in the Nittany Lions’ 26-24 win over Central Florida. He got involved early with catches for 5 and 15 yards within the first three plays, and he made a 44-yard grab down to the 2 later in the opening drive to help set up a touchdown.

Hamilton, who had to sit out last year with a wrist injury, had a simple mindset going into the game.

“To begin with, I wasn’t nervous,” he said. “We had such a great game plan, such a great week of practice that I went out there, it just seemed like everything was going to click. Honestly, it felt like I was back in high school again. That’s my mentality. I just wanted to go out there and play like I was back in high school and make all the plays and be a big name on the field.”

He was a big name, no doubt, and on a much bigger field at gigantic Croke Park.

“I just wanted to make Ireland like high school so I could be comfortable and not go out there and have butterflies,” Hamilton said.

Penn State faced a big question this season of how it would replace Allen Robinson’s school-record 97 catches from a year ago. Just like Robinson came out of nowhere to have a huge 2012 season (77 catches), Hamilton caught many by surprise with his explosive debut.

Asked about the early comparisons to A-Rob, Hamilton went an interesting direction with his answer.

“It makes me feel like people should stop sleeping on us,” he said. “The whole receiving corps, we have something to prove, and that’s what we’re going to do week in and week out. We’re going to prove that we should be here, prove that there’s no dropoff from last year to this year, that anybody can make plays at any given time.”

Hamilton wasn’t the only receiver making big plays Saturday. Geno Lewis had a monster day, as well, and his could have been more easily predicted since it’s his second season on the field and third in the program.

Lewis caught eight passes for 173 yards, including a 79-yard TD catch and run in which he was wide open in the secondary by about 10 yards. He also made a highlight-reel catch in the fourth quarter that led to a field goal and 23-17 lead.

Lewis and defensive back Jacoby Green both went up for a deep pass down the right sideline, Green tipped it, and Lewis caught it as he fell to the ground.

“The ball was a little bit behind me, so I knew I had to go up and make a play,” Lewis said. “When I went up to grab it, the guy kind of tipped it out of my hands, and I just kept my concentration.”

Quarterback Christian Hackenberg added, “Geno made two or three ridiculous catches.”

Like Hamilton, Lewis said he wanted to let people know that PSU has some good receivers even without Robinson.

“We just want to come out here and surprise people that don’t think we’re up to the challenge,” he said.

Along with the receivers, the tight ends caught 10 passes, led by Jesse James with seven for 60 yards. Central Florida’s secondary had no answers for all of the diverse PSU receiving targets.

The Knights also could not have been prepared for what they saw from Hamilton. His 44-yard catch early in the game came on a play the Lions had been working on all week.

“That was supposed to be for a touchdown,” Hamilton said. “I was like, please make this ball hurry up and get here so the safety can’t come up and get it. I just knew I had to make a play on it because it was just kind of hanging a little bit, and I knew nobody else was going to get that ball but me.”

Hamilton said he did a lot of summer work with Hackenberg to build a rapport and get down the timing. His work ethic was easy to spot for the quarterback.

“DaeSean is one of those guys who has worked extremely hard,” Hackenberg said. “He came in with me (as a freshman), so I knew the type of player he was. Just like Geno and our tight ends, when you give him an opportunity he’s going to make the play and make the effort.

“I think DaeSean’s work effort is the reason why I trusted him so much. He’s a guy who shows up every day at practice and is consistent with what he does. I’m confident in him against any defense.”

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