Senior safety Lamont Wade got another chance to return kicks over the last two weeks, and he rewarded Penn State with a 100-yard touchdown Saturday against Illinois.
Barry Reeger | AP file photo
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STATE COLLEGE — Lamont Wade couldn’t be sure he’d ever get this opportunity again.
So when Illinois’ second kickoff of the game came to him a few yards deep in his end zone — a situation in which Penn State coaches have asked for fair catches all season — Wade took off.
The senior safety had done this plenty of times in his life, starring as one the most dynamic players in the state at Clairton High School.
Those old instincts took over Saturday, getting over to the left sideline with the help of two key blocks. With fellow seniors like Shaka Toney and Antonio Shelton cheering him on as he sped past, Wade hit full speed, stepped out of two tackle attempts and kept his balance all the way to the end zone.
“I knew I was going to score,” Wade said. “We had executed that all week in practice. Just watching the film, I knew how I was supposed to set it up and how I was supposed to get there. I was just excited to get the ball in my hands and get it done.”
In the NFL, it would’ve likely gone down as a 103-yard return. The NCAA counts it as a 100-yard kick return touchdown, making it the sixth in Penn State history and first in a decade — Chaz Powell was the last to do it in the 2010 opener against Youngstown State.
Wade always knew he was capable of it, having scored on all sorts of returns in high school. During the summer, he even made a personal pitch to special teams coordinator Joe Lorig to get the chance.
“Lamont Wade came in my office, ‘Hey coach, you gotta watch my high school tape, man. Give me the rock and watch what happens,’ ” Lorig said before the season began. “And I did watch his film and immediately put him back there, because he is special with the ball in his hands.”
It just took awhile to show it off. Wade mishandled a ball when he was back deep early in the season and running back Devyn Ford and wideout Parker Washington got most of the chances after that, though they were mostly fair catches.
With Ford sitting out the last two weeks, Wade was back in the spot and he broke the Lions best kick return of the season last week against Michigan State.
The best that is, until Saturday.
“We’ve been waiting for that all year,” said wideout Jahan Dotson, who took a punt back for a score last week. “Lamont finally got his opportunity. I was so happy to see him get in the end zone this week.”
Freiermuth says goodbye
Penn State’s first official departure of the offseason was the most expected. All-America tight end Pat Freiermuth announced Sunday afternoon that he is headed to the NFL.
“It has been an absolute honor representing the Blue & White these past three seasons,” Freiermuth wrote on social media. “When I received my offer from Penn State, I knew right away it was the place I wanted to be.
“Obviously, the way my career ended wasn’t what I wished for, needing season-ending surgery on my shoulder. Nittany Nation, I can promise you, I gave you everything I had.”
Despite playing just four games in his junior season in 2020, Freiermuth leaves Penn State with multiple school records, including most career touchdowns by a tight end.
Infirmary report
• Defensive end Jayson Oweh, a newly minted first-team All-Big Ten selection, missed his second straight game after suffering an injury in the second half against Rutgers. The sophomore has been “banged up,” according to Lions coach James Franklin.
Starting in his place for the second straight week was fifth-year senior Shane Simmons.
• Another game in uniform, another game on the sideline for Tariq Castro-Fields.
The senior cornerback last played on Nov. 7 before missing six straight games with an undisclosed injury. The NFL hopeful has been present at every game, making every road trip and frequently suiting up and going through warm-ups.
But Castro-Fields wasn’t the only missing piece of the secondary. Fellow starting corner Joey Porter Jr. went through the same routine, suiting up for the game but not playing.
For the second time this season, that left the Lions with just three scholarship cornerbacks available, all second-year players. Keaton Ellis and Marquis Wilson started with Daequan Hardy also playing.
Ellis came up with the first interception by a Lions cornerback this season in the first quarter on a diving catch of an overthrown ball.
When the backups began filing onto the field in the fourth quarter, Penn State didn’t even have two more corners to put in. The No. 4 man who did get in the game was walk-on Sebastian Costantini, a redshirt freshman who was listed as a kicker/punter last season. He was, however, a star decathlete in high school at Malvern Prep.
Franklin said this week that the Lions plan to be active in the transfer portal looking for defensive backs in the offseason.
“Just like a lot of programs, we are razor-thin,” Franklin said of his depth during this pandemic season. “We had a lot of guys out. That’s a big factor in all of this. A lot of guys were held out for different medical reasons. We’re very, very thin at certain positions.”
• One of those positions is running back, as just two scholarship players were available for the third time in four weeks.
Keyvone Lee started and was spelled by Caziah Holmes, as both true freshmen found the end zone in the first half. Lee finished with 85 yards and Holmes had 77, adding a second touchdown in the fourth quarter.
In uniform but not playing was Ford, who missed his second straight game. Ford had been the Lions starter with Journey Brown and Noah Cain both out, but was injured on the opening drive against Iowa four weeks ago.
Ford missed the next week because of a death in his family but returned to start and play against Rutgers before sitting out against Michigan State and Illinois.
Penn State finished with 253 yards on the ground, as the end of the game featured carries from a pair of walk-ons in Joseph Bruno and Tank Smith.
More action for Dwyer
Already a special teams player for the last few weeks, Wyoming Valley West and Wyoming Seminary alum Robbie Dwyer took his first snaps at linebacker for the Lions on Saturday.
With Penn State up big midway through the fourth quarter, Dwyer checked in on defense for the first time in his college career. He lined up on the outside for the final two defensive series, a total of eight plays.
A redshirt freshman, Dwyer joined the Lions as a walk-on in 2019 after a varsity career at Valley West and one post-grad season for Sem.