Is KJ Hamler the player that Derrick Williams should have been?

[jrd23psu]

This^^

he was never THAT explosive IMO. very good player, but not great

speaking of Justin King, he was absolutely electric with the ball in his hands. he had the the fastest 10-15 yard burst ive ever seen at psu. still believe he should have played offense

I've always thought they made a mistake moving Justin King to DB. I know that was the plan from day one but he played offense as a true freshman. He was absolutely electric and if he was a recruit today you can bet CJF would have him playing offense.

DWill gets a bad rap because he was the #1 overall recruit and people had unreachable expectations for him. He was an explosive playmaker for PSU and had a fantastic career here.

 

[Ceasar]

I mean, there might be some mythology, but he was one of the most productive players in school history (pick your metric), had a very good senior year, and was drafted in the third round. On it's face, Hamler looks like the more dynamic player, but derrick wasn't as much of a bust as some made him out to be.

This!!! Some of you guys may be "misremembering". First, do you know how many punt returns he had has a FR? Exactly zero. Second, he played 7 games and caught 22 passes. In years 2, 3, and 4 he played in 13 games each year and caught 40, 55 and 44. As a FR he caught 1 TD, the next 3 years 1, 3, 4. As a FR he averaged 4.8 yards per carry, the next 3 years 4.0, 6.3, 5.7. As a KO return guy as a FR he averaged 21 yards per return followed by 17, 18 and 25. For his career he returned 5 kicks for TD's. None of those 5 came in his first year. Think about that for a second - 5 kick returns for TD's. While I hope KJ can do that I would guess the odds are against him.
DWill was an outstanding college football player.

 

[JeffClear]

This!!! Some of you guys may be "misremembering". First, do you know how many punt returns he had has a FR? Exactly zero. Second, he played 7 games and caught 22 passes. In years 2, 3, and 4 he played in 13 games each year and caught 40, 55 and 44. As a FR he caught 1 TD, the next 3 years 1, 3, 4. As a FR he averaged 4.8 yards per carry, the next 3 years 4.0, 6.3, 5.7. As a KO return guy as a FR he averaged 21 yards per return followed by 17, 18 and 25. For his career he returned 5 kicks for TD's. None of those 5 came in his first year. Think about that for a second - 5 kick returns for TD's. While I hope KJ can do that I would guess the odds are against him.
DWill was an outstanding college football player.

The kickoff rules are much different now making returns rare so that is an unfair comparison.

 

[NelsonMunce]

Dwill in this current system would be dynamic. I would love to see the results of him in the slot for 3 years with Trace.

What a great trio of receivers in Williams , Butler and Norwood. On a completely different note, I would love to be able to put Rashard Casey in a time machine, and put him in this era of PSU football.

 

[schoolie]

he reminds me of Adoree Jackson from USC. He was the return guy with USC that played in the Rose Bowl. I am not sure he's as fast as Adoree but he seems to be shiftier.

View embedded media

Good post, all four parts of it. Now, about our president's penis . . .

 

[stater02]

It’s fair to say that DWill never achieved the level of success many expected for him, but expectations were sky high.

The best thing he did for Penn State was simply coming to Penn State. He was a great recruiter for us. It showed that we were still capable of bringing in elite talent, even after the “dark years”. I’ll also never forget sitting in the end zone in Evanston when he caught the game winning TD.

DWill committed to us when we needed him the most. Much like Hackenberg. Both deserve our gratitude. We are!

 

[BBrown]

The kickoff rules are much different now making returns rare so that is an unfair comparison.

JMO but comparing the offense he was in then to the one we are now running is equally unfair.

 

[JeffClear]

JMO but comparing the offense he was in then to the one we are now running is equally unfair.

I agree but to my eyes Hamler looks like he is more explosive than DWill.
Hamler is arguably the best WR on a team with a stable of talented receivers and he is only a freshman.
Don’t get me wrong DWill was a great player for PSU both on and off the field. A class act and a true Penn Stater.

 

[NittanyOpp]

Comp him to Desean Jackson. The Percy Harvin and Peter Warrick comps fair as well. Think he is more polished as a WR than the PH and PW as he showed a willingness to get ball against App St in traffic.

Just enjoy the show, it will be a fun one for a few years.

 

[anon_1eeb2b426hv3y]

I think a better comparison to Hamler might be Deon Butler. Butler was, like Hamler, crazy quick and elusive but also fast enough he wasn't going to be caught from behind very much.

Williams coming to PSU had a huge psychological impact on a program that was starting to be written off. But in actual games, Butler had a lot more impact than Williams. Defenses paid a lot of attention to DW, but Butler was the player nobody could cover.

Butler had his impact because Williams was on the field! Williams was an “athlete”, not nec a pure or prototypical anything, but he’s probably the best athlete to come through here. He changed the playing field for the rest of the offense.

Butler was a different body type from Williams, smaller like Hamler. And yes Williams played in a different era where almost everything about the program was different than now. And yes Williams’ injury took a while to heal and that set him back. But some of these posts are seriously missing the mark. The recency bias is palpable. It’s like some are not even writing about Derrick Williams.

 

[anon_1eeb2b426hv3y]

The kickoff rules are much different now making returns rare so that is an unfair comparison.

Wait, this thread is devoted to fair comparisons?

No. Differences in kickoff rules are a drop in the bucket. These two were completely different players. I love hamler too! But he’s a 5’9” speedster who burns people in space. That was king’s role, when needed. Williams did more than that and more was expected of him from day 1. And Williams was called on for that too.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Comp him to Desean Jackson.

Loved me some DJax when he was in college. I was at this game.

 

[Booooyah]

Percy Hardin is a good comparison. His HS film reminded me a lot of Antonio Brown.

 

[anon_1eeb2b426hv3y]

Percy Hardin is a good comparison. His HS film reminded me a lot of Antonio Brown.

Agreed. And Williams was called on for more than Harvin as well. There were many other weapons on that UF squad, way more than Williams and MRob had.

 

[cntblvitsbutter]

Like Zach Mills, he was two players: One before the injury, one after.

Before his should injury, I thought Mills was going to own all PSU passing records. He didn't have a rifle, but his arm was strong enough to throw the deep out, a quick release, accuracy, and the ability to find and hit an open receiver in stride. His injury robbed him of just about all his arm strength. Those deep outs became floaters. His team really stunk too resulting in happy feet and tunnel vision. It was really sad to see.

 

[tboyer]

I think Butler was a high school cornerback. Joe convinced him he would be a good receiver. Credit JVP for Butler's career.

I guess JVP gets "credit" for running a program that had no Big Ten quality wideouts going into the 2005 season. It was open casting for the entire PSU student body at that point. And that was because of a multi-year failure of recruiting and position coaching. They had some big fast athletes who couldn't run routes or catch passes. And they had some second- and third-tier recruits who were not good enough athletes to get open against Big Ten secondaries. PSU was kind of an anti-destination for wideout talent at that point because nobody had any faith in PSU's offensive coaching.

Norwood was a coach's son whose other scholarship offer was Bucknell. PSU was no smarter than anybody else about Butler's potential. But fortunately he and his family loved PSU and had the resources to pay PSU's tuition so he could walk on. Paterno had Butler try wideout only because they tried every male student on campus at wideout. No one had any inkling Butler and Norwood would turn out to be NFL players. Crazy how things happen.

 

[corkster999]

Maybe Hawk or Carpenter

Katzenmoyer was a decade earlier

Katzenmoyer spent a memorable afternoon wearing Brad Scioli as a breastplate.

 

[Custerdome]

The best comparison I can think of for KJ Hamler is an old school guy who played for the Broncos named Rick Upchurch. Now, some of you may not remember him, but I sure do and to me, Hamler is a spitting, mirror image of Upchurch. Just amazing, and every time he has the ball it's chaos and anarchy for the defense.