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UNIVERSITY PARK -- There was perhaps nothing more interesting in college football over the weekend than the report from 247 Sports that Penn State wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith was away from the team all week and was strongly considering entering the transfer portal.
He cannot enter the transfer portal until Tuesday, but Lambert-Smith was nowhere to be seen at Saturday's Blue-White Game.
This left the Beaver Stadium crowd that was only about a quarter of the way full on a brisk, windy Saturday wondering where does the wide receiver group stand as the Lions exit the 2024 edition of spring ball.
There was nothing to be said from PSU coach James Franklin on Lambert-Smith.
"I'm really happy to talk about the guys that played in the game today that are in the locker room," Franklin said. "Besides that I don't have a whole lot for you."
Trey Wallace provided the most hope out of the wideout group on Saturday, hauling in five passes for 72 yards. Backup tight end Andrew Rappleyea also caught a touchdown from Drew Allar late in the game. Kaden Saunders and Liam Clifford both caught two passes.
Even newcomer Julian Fleming, who suited up for the Blue team, was only targeted three times. He caught one pass for 5 yards.
But just like the beginning of spring ball where he expressed belief in the wideouts, Franklin doubled down on that sentiment.
"I have all the faith in the world in our wide receivers in terms of talent and ability," he said. "We have to take the next step. I saw them take a step this spring. We need to take another step this summer. The positive thing is you can really improve in the passing game over the summer. It's hard to do that in the running game. We have the talent in the room. The reality is we have to do it on a consistent basis."
PSU quarterback Drew Allar had a so-so day, going 15-for-32 for 202 yards and a TD on a less-than-desirable day to throw the football with windy conditions. He also didn't seem too worried about the wideouts that were underwhelming last season.
"There's definitely a lot of improvement," Allar said. "I think they caught a lot of slack and a lot of criticism last year. All they did with Coach (Marques) Hagans this year was put their head down and work. I've seen a totally different level of commitment in that group.
"Overall as an offense we just need to be consistent at every position. It's not just one position that's a downfall of an offense. We all need to be consistent and do our jobs."
Franklin said after Saturday's scrimmage that it's about to be an 'interesting couple of weeks' for college football. The NCAA transfer portal window opens again on Tuesday and will remain open until the end of the month. It will be interesting to see what the Lions will do in those two weeks' time.
It sure didn't seem like Franklin was too worried about the makeup of his roster in the coming weeks.
"To be honest with you, 99 percent of the time what's good for the individual is good for the team and vice versa," Franklin said.
There needs to be more regulations in college football between NIL and the transfer portal, which is a conversation for another day. But taking any stock in the product on the field on Saturday and the worries of who will catch the ball in September seems like more of a waste of time than ever before.
"There is so much turnover in college football that it's kind of hard to make predictions," Franklin said. "The roster can look so different."
In other words, let's reconvene at the start of training camp in August and assess it all over again.
Andy Stine can be reached at astine@altoonamirror.com.