Penn State notes: Wide receiver Koby Howard might return against Purdue

Penn State wide receiver Koby Howard, who’s missed the last four games with an unspecified injury, could play Saturday against Purdue, coach Matt Campbell said Tuesday.

“Koby’s still questionable,” Campbell said. “He’s progressing in a really positive way. I think we’ll know a lot more by the time we get to the end of the week if he’d be available to play (against Purdue). He was out on the practice field today, so that was a positive for sure.”

The 5-11, 203-pound Howard caught 12 passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns and scored on a 20-yard run in the Nittany Lions’ first three games. He was injured sometime during the third game against Buffalo and hasn’t played since then.

Penn State’s offense has struggled without him, scoring an average of just 18.5 points in four games, all in the Big Ten.

“I do think getting Koby back will be a huge asset to our football team,” Campbell said. “That’s why we have to make sure he’s healthy and truly ready to play. We want to make sure we’re getting the Koby that we saw in the first three games and not a shell of him.”

Chase Sowell has emerged as the Lions’ top receiver with 34 receptions for 510 yards and three TDs, all numbers better than he had all of last season at Iowa State.

Sowell caught 11 passes for 151 yards and one TD two weeks ago at Michigan and has 26 catches for 384 yards and two TDs in Big Ten play.

He acknowledged how important Howard’s return will be for Penn State.

“We’re very happy about Koby,” Sowell said. “He’s definitely taken some big strides. I can’t wait for him to get back on the field, whenever that is. He’s a guy who brings his swag to the offense. He balls out and works his butt off.

“He’s confident in doing what he does. He knows how much he’s put into it.”

Becht update

Campbell once again made it clear he has no intention of replacing quarterback Rocco Becht after he committed three turnovers in a 21-18 loss at Michigan two weeks ago.

“I feel very convicted about Rocco,” Campbell said. “There’s a lot of good football in there. When he’s at his best, he’s playing good football. He’s giving us a chance to win.”

Becht is in his fourth season as a starting quarterback. He’s completed 62.9% of his passes for 1,664 yards and 12 touchdowns with five interceptions. His quarterback rating of 143.51 is better than the 134.77 rating he posted last season.

Becht threw two interceptions and lost a fumble, which led to all of the Wolverines’ points two weeks ago.

“I think some of the areas where he has to be better to win games are evident as well,” Campbell said. “I think it (the bye week) gave us a lot of time and effort to correct those things and have a great plan moving ourselves forward.”

Kicking game woes

Penn State ranks in the bottom half of the FBS in kickoff returns and net punting.

The Lions have returned just seven kickoffs for a 19.43 average, which ranks 79th. Only 11 teams have had fewer kickoff returns.

“Getting the ball on the 25-yard line at times, there’s a lot of value to that,” Campbell said. “We’ve played some great kickers, guys that certainly can elevate the ball into the back of the end zone or have elite hang time.

“There is an analytic conversation of whether we’re going to return it here. There are strike zones to our returns, where the ball needs to be if we are going to return it.”

Penn State ranks 113th in net punting with a 37.35 average. Nathan Tiyce is 67th with a 41.06 punting average.

“We’ve been outstanding on pouch punting, sky punting,” Campbell said. “The area of open-field punting can continue to be better. We let one big return in the Northwestern game. Other than that, we’ve done a good job in our punt coverage.”

Limited action

Penn State safety Jeremiah Cooper saw limited action at Michigan after starting the previous five games.

Defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn said the Lions rested Cooper after he didn’t play well against USC the week before. Cooper suffered a torn ACL after four games last year at Iowa State, missed the rest of the season, spring practice this year and part of fall camp.

“He came back earlier than we expected,” Lynn said. “After the SC game, he had a high workload. We wanted to keep him available, but we wanted to use that (Michigan) week and the bye week to get his legs back. I didn’t think he was quite playing the same.”

Cooper played seven snaps in the second half at Michigan and was not credited with a stop. Jamison Patton started in his place and had five tackles.