New Penn State WR Julian Fleming is a transfer portal upgrade, even if he won’t fix the offense’s chief issue

Julian Fleming is not a solution to Penn State’s problems, but he should be a valuable addition to a Nittany Lions receiver room that could use a boost. Fleming, who spent the last four seasons with Big Ten rival Ohio State, committed to the Nittany Lions on Wednesday after entering interest from other Big Ten programs, including Nebraska. 

In his four years with the Buckeyes, Fleming didn’t live up to the billing as the No. 3 overall player and No. 1 wide receiver in the 2020 recruiting class. He finished his time in Columbus with 79 receptions for 963 yards and seven touchdowns as a piece that got a bit lost in the shuffle of Ohio State’s overly crowded receiver room.

He’ll now find himself in far different surroundings. Penn State entered the 2023 season with high expectations. Many believed quarterback Drew Allar would be the difference maker on offense to help the Lions ascend the mountain and possibly surpass Michigan and Ohio State. He wasn’t. While there’s plenty of blame to go around, and Allar must shoulder some of it, Penn State didn’t have a player on the roster who was consistently capable of stretching the field vertically.

Fleming will not provide Penn State with one, either — at least, he hasn’t shown an ability to do so to this point. 

It’s possible Fleming was simply filling a role with Ohio State, but most of his work in the Buckeyes offense was near the line of scrimmage. Of his 79 career receptions, 61 came within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage or behind it. Nine of them came between 11 and 15 air yards.

Ohio State targeted Fleming 25 times on throws of at least 16 air yards in his career, and he caught only nine of the attempts. Blaming former quarterback Kyle McCord has been a popular option among Ohio State fans for the offensive problems in 2023, but Fleming only caught six of 16 such targets when C.J. Stroud and Justin Fields were throwing him the ball.

Since 2020, Fleming’s catch rate of 36.0% on targets of 16 air yards or more ranks No. 202 of 276 Power Five receivers with at least 25 targets. His 1.99 yards per route rank No. 257. It seems pretty clear at this point that he’s not a deep threat.