During Matt Campbell’s final season at Iowa State, one of the toughest calls he faced came with true freshman wide receiver Zay Robinson. Campbell chose to redshirt him in 2025 instead of pushing him into a bigger role in the Cyclones’ offense.
That decision didn’t keep Robinson from showing up on the radar. After following Campbell to Penn State, the 5-11, 186-pound receiver is in the middle of a breakout season for the Nittany Lions.
Through three games, Robinson has five catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. He’s also making noise on special teams, averaging 13.2 yards on 13 punt returns and breaking one for 38 yards.
“(Robinson) might have been one of the top receivers on our team (in 2025), and we’re kind of, should we play him, should we not?” Campbell said Tuesday as Penn State (3-0) continues preparations for its matchup with Wisconsin (2-1) on Saturday at Beaver Stadium.
“And I got to work with him because I try to spend a lot of time with the scout offense during practice. And he was an absolute menace last year down there because of his competitive excellence.”
Robinson turned in his biggest punt-return workload yet in Penn State’s 55-13 win over Buffalo last Saturday, bringing back eight punts for 109 yards. That was the most punt returns by a Penn State player in a single game since Calvin Lowry had nine against Kent State in 2003.
Campbell said Robinson’s value goes beyond the raw numbers, pointing to the way he creates after the catch.
“You got to see how dynamic he is with the ball in his hand and even his receptions this year,” Campbell said of Robinson.
“It’s not just the catch; it’s the catch and the run after.”
“Listen, he’s still young,” Campbell continued.
In Other News...
Penn State Suddenly Has A Koby Howard Concern Heading Into Next Week
Penn States injury watch after the Buffalo game centered on a few familiar names, but Koby Howard is the one carrying the biggest question into next week. Matt Campbell said Howard was hurt on a long touchdown run, and with the Lions moving on to the next opponent, his availability is now uncertain. For a team trying to keep early-season momentum rolling, even a single injury note can matter when it involves a player who was in the middle of a scoring play.
Brock Riker appears on sturdier ground and is expected to be available for the next game, while Andrew Rappleyea and Tyler Armstead are still listed as questionable after leaving the Buffalo contest banged up. For Penn State, the focus now shifts from the box score to the training room, where the answers on a few key depth pieces could shape how the rotation looks when the Lions line up again. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Fans Face One Annoying Hurdle For Wisconsin Opener
Penn States Big Ten opener against Wisconsin at Beaver Stadium arrives with the usual conference-stage stakes, but there is one wrinkle for fans planning their Saturday around it. The 5 p.m. ET kickoff makes for a prime-time atmosphere in State College, yet the game will not be on traditional television. Instead, it will be available exclusively on Peacock, NBC Universals streaming platform, which means anyone wanting to watch will need a subscription.
Peacocks role as a Big Ten Saturday Night home will extend beyond this matchup, with the service carrying other conference games throughout the 2026 season while also offering football and entertainment programming. For Penn State supporters, though, the immediate issue is simpler and more annoying: if they want to see the opener against Wisconsin, they will have to navigate another streaming paywall first. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Just Got An Early Recruiting Sign Matt Campbell Needed
Penn States 2028 recruiting class got a noticeable boost this week when quarterback commit James Armstrong climbed 40 spots in Rivals latest rankings, landing at No. 61 overall and No. 7 among quarterbacks. Even in a staff that is known to trust its own evaluations more than outside lists, movement like that matters, especially when it comes from a quarterback and especially when it helps validate the early work being done in Pennsylvania.
There is still a long way to go with this cycle, and rankings will keep shifting as more evaluations come in, but Armstrongs rise is the kind of public sign a program can point to while building momentum. Another in-state commit, cornerback Deonte Flemings Jr., went the other direction with a 50-spot drop, a reminder that the early stages of recruiting rarely tell the full story even when they offer a glimpse of where the class might be headed. [Read more 🡒]