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Jahan Dotson Will Turn Some Heads In 2021

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Jahan Dotson is not mentioned among the elite wide receivers in the NCAA. I am telling you that he needs to be.

Jahan Dotson is an electric receiver for Penn St. He made some true highlight reel grabs in 2020 and has turned into one of my favorite receiver prospects. After seeing post after post of the top returning wide receivers, Dotson is never mentioned. To me this is pure blasphemy, anybody who has seen this kid play knows he is a stud. If Penn St. could get some better quarterback play for 2021, then Dotson could see his stock sky rocket. Here I will tell you what I love about Jahan Dotson.

Jahan Dotson Career Overview To Date

Coming out of high school Dotson was the 65th overall wide receiver recruit in the class. He set school team records in high school for receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. As a true freshman Dotson played in eight games and made four starts, though made minimal impact. Although he only made 13 receptions in those appearances, 10 of them went for first downs. He started every game for the Nittany Lions his sophomore season but was still a bit of an afterthought in the offense with K.J. Hamler taking the spotlight. He finished third on the team in receptions, yards and touchdowns.

He showed great big play potential, averaging 18.07 yards per reception which was 5th in the conference and 34th nationally. His junior year was his true breakout. He was a Phil Steele All-American honorable mention, Pro Football Focus all Big-10 2nd team, coaches and media All Big-10 third team and was on the Biletnikoff watch list. While being an excellent receiver, he also was an excellent special teams return-man. He caught one pass of at least 20 yards in 8 of 9 games. Dotson led the Big-10 in receiving yards (884), was 3rd in receptions (52), and fourth in yards per reception.

Career Stats

  • 30 games, 92 receptions, 1,575 receiving yards, 17.1 yards per reception, and 13 touchdowns.
  • 11 punt returns, 234 return yards, 21.3 yards per return and 1 return touchdown

Jahan Dotson Strengths

Jahan Dotson is a quick twitch receiver with great lateral agility. He has good footwork at the line of scrimmage and uses some nifty moves to beat press coverage. Watch the move he puts on at the line here to get open for the touchdown:

Dotson has beautiful hands and does a great job plucking the ball out of the air away from his body. Watch this remarkable highlight grab here:

He does a great job winning in contested catch situations, especially for a man who is shorter in stature. Watch here as he wins the battle and comes down with a beautiful catch:

https://twitter.com/abdulamemon/status/1322727614109360128?s=20

He high points well and is a legitimate deep threat, though he wins on shallow routes for impressive yards after the catch as well. When running routes he has crisp and clean breaks, holding strong angles, forcing defensive backs into missteps, and creates great separation. He is electric when the ball is in his hands, showing great elusiveness and break away ability. Watch his speed and elusiveness here after the catch:

Dotson has excellent body control in jump ball situations and shows great sideline awareness and also awareness of the first down marker. He is super competitive and attacks the football in the air, often coming down with the ball. Dotson provides excellent special teams skills as well. He is a play-maker all over the field, watch this punt return as he directs traffic:

Jahan Dotson Weaknesses

He is a bit small to play on the outside coming in a 5’11” and 184 lbs. There are not many wide receivers of this stature who play outside receiver productively in the NFL. He may have trouble coming across the middle though his separation says different. Dotson does not have a wide catch radius which means smaller windows for quarterbacks. He also holds zero ground in run blocking and has no place trying to hold onto gaps. He did not break out until  his junior year when the superior talent moved on. 

Analysis

Jahan Dotson has some mouth watering traits as a wide receiver. His ability to snatch the pass out of the air shows strong hands and quarterbacks will love that trait. Being 5’11” may relegate him more to slot duties in the NFL though he has shown the ability to win on multiple occasions outside so I have no worries. Dotson can win at all levels of the field and is a guy who can create good separation with solid route running, good speed and excellent agility.

Dotson should be able to carve out a role in an offense that needs pass catchers and should be able to open some eyes with his competitive nature. 2021 will be a huge year for Dotson, especially if Penn St. can sure up the quarterback position. Between Dotson’s special teams prowess and ability to make defenders look silly on the field, he should wake some people up and can jump into the nation’s top 10 receivers without a problem.

Make sure that you subscribe and order our draft magazines for the 2021 draft prospects. It will be full of analysis to help you in your rookie drafts. Get ready for our new rankings tool where I myself have contributed season long projections to create rankings catered to any scoring. Remember…the Tooth has the taste for IDP.

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