Penn State's Jahan Dotson Takes Another Coaching Change in Stride
Penn State's Jahan Dotson hasn't spent more than a year with a single receivers coach. He knows how that can be perceived as negative. But Dotson, a junior, is considering the upside.
"You can kind of look at it in two ways," he said recently. "You can kind of say that it's hard going from coach to coach, but then I kind of look at it as a plus. I get to learn from so many great minds, so many guys who have been in the game for so long. They know so much about the game. They've seen so much before me."
If anybody can find that perspective, it's Dotson, who has been associated with four position coaches at Penn State. He was recruited by Josh Gattis, with whom he developed a strong relationship that ultimately brought Dotson back to Penn State after he initially committed to UCLA. Gattis left for Alabama before ever coaching Dotson and now is the offensive coordinator at Michigan.
Penn State's receivers coach in 2018 was David Corley, who initially was brought in to coach running backs. That relationship lasted one year, and Corley was replaced by Gerad Parker.
Dotson said he learned plenty from Parker, both on and off the field, until Parker left to become offensive coordinator at West Virginia. Taylor Stubblefield joined the position group in January, becoming the fourth voice Dotson has heard at Penn State.
That's a lot of change, which was made even more uncertain by the COVID-19 pandemic that prompted Stubblefield to develop bonds with his new players via video. Stubblefield, who came to Penn State from Miami, has moved often in his career, so he's familiar with establishing himself quickly
Dotson said that Stubblefield made a good first impression.
"We've been in contact a lot of this quarantine," Dotson said. "I got a real good feel for him. I obviously can't wait to be around him and get started and get working together. ... Coach [Stubblefield], he brings his own kind of swagger to the room and he was a great player, a great receiver [at Purdue], so I can't wait to learn what he has to teach us."
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