Penn State’s top WR Lambert-Smith enters portal

Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior WriterApr 15, 2024, 02:25 PM ET
Close
- College football reporter.
- Joined ESPN.com in 2008.
- Graduate of Northwestern University.

Penn State wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith, who led the team in receptions and receiving yards last season, entered the transfer portal Monday as a graduate student.

Lambert-Smith, who recorded 53 receptions for 673 yards and four touchdowns in 2023, had not been with the team late in spring practice. Coach James Franklin, asked after Saturday’s Blue-White Game about Lambert-Smith’s status, said he would answer questions regarding “any of the guys that played in the game today and are in the locker room.”

The 6-foot-1, 184-pound Lambert-Smith started portions of the past four seasons for Penn State and ranks in the team’s top 20 for career receptions (116) and receiving yards (1,598). He’s the only Penn State player to record multiple 80-yard receptions.

Penn State’s passing offense slipped to No. 77 nationally last season and rarely attacked downfield. Franklin fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich in November and replaced him with Kansas’ Andy Kotelnicki.

A Norfolk, Virginia, native, Lambert-Smith came to Penn State as ESPN’s No. 205 overall recruit in the 2020 class. He will have one year of eligibility left.