KeAndre Lambert-Smith sets goals, tone for 2023 season
KeAndre Lambert-Smith struggled to find the right answer to a straightforward question. Surrounded by a small group of reporters this summer, the fourth-year receiver considered what a great season would look like for him this year.
“I know you’re not supposed to put stats and stuff out there, but I’m gonna, I don’t know,” Lambert-Smith said. “I don’t know.”
The Penn State senior, rarely short on words, gave his answer more thought. Peering toward the turf at Holuba Hall, Lambert-Smith laughed, arriving at the response he’d been searching to find.
“I will say, a great season is me just being able to showcase all my talents. Whether that’s 50 catches, 60 catches, 70, 80, 100-plus, I just want to have opportunities to make big plays down the field,” Lambert-Smith said. “Quick game, reverse, whatever it may be, I want to feel like a playmaker. And I want to feel like at the end of the season, I showcased my talent to the world and I did everything in my power possibly before the season, everything, to be the best I can be.”
Putting in work
The end of Penn State football’s 2023 season is still months away, beyond Lambert-Smith’s immediate control. But in speaking to the second part of the equation, doing everything in his power to be his best, a palpable buzz has enveloped him among teammates and coaches.
His presumed starting quarterback, Drew Allar, credited Lambert-Smith for all of the extra time he’d put in at the Lasch Building this summer. Working to get on the same page, the connection between the first-time starting quarterback and the first-time go-to receiver has grown stronger through that work.
Marques Hagans, the Nittany Lions’ new receivers coach, has lauded his pupil’s willingness to work and help the offense since his February arrival. Embracing a role as a slot receiver this spring, a change from his time spent on the outside for the past two seasons, Lambert-Smith’s attitude hasn’t been in question.
Even Lambert-Smith, acknowledging his shift in perception, a practical personal evolution, laid out an approach to the game that has changed this offseason. What’d once been a daily routine involving his arrival 20 minutes before the start of practice, preparation is now paramount. That manifested itself in spring practices by getting to the program a few hours ahead of time and putting in work to get his body ready for the challenges ahead.
“It may just be a maturity thing. Knowing it is my time,” Lambert-Smith said. “I don’t want to miss this opportunity. I’m the number one. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity. I want to do everything in my power so I can’t look back and be like, ‘Ah, I folded on my opportunity.’
“And honestly, you get tired of hearing (about Marvin Harrison Jr.), O-State receivers in general, other receivers around the country.”
Wanting to be a legitimate part of that conversation, Lambert-Smith continued, the demands have changed.
“I gotta be that much more focused because I’m not just competing with guys here. I’m competing with other guys in the country,” he said. “As Coach Franklin says, I’m gonna be a top guy in the country. And I am. But I just know it comes with work, consistency, and habits. So I’ve been trying to stick to that.”
Finding consistency
At a critical moment for the Nittany Lions’ receiving room, Lambert-Smith stands as the lone returning wideout with a real resume in the program.
Through three seasons, he’s generated a combined 1,048 receiving yards, seven receiving touchdowns, and a passing touchdown. At no point along the way, beginning with the 2020 COVID season during his first year on campus, his 34-catch follow-up in 2021, or the entirety of his 2022 campaign, has Lambert-Smith established game-to-game consistency, though.
Most recently, despite starts over the first five games of the season, an injury sustained early in an October win over Northwestern forced him into stagnation. What’d started as nine receptions for 104 yards and a touchdown, including a critical performance in the opener at Purdue, transformed into an extended stretch of limited impact.
Though able to play through the setback, he saw fewer reps and made even fewer receptions, creating a six-game stretch with just four catches for 69 yards and a touchdown. Only upon his return to a starting role at Rutgers did Lambert-Smith find the form he’d established earlier in the year. First making three catches in the win, he parlayed it into five catches for 83 yards and a touchdown to close the regular season against Michigan State, and three catches for 124 yards and an 88-yard touchdown in the Rose Bowl win over Utah.
Next steps for KeAndre Lambert-Smith
Assessing the stakes for Lambert-Smith ahead of this season, Hagans said the table is set to achieve the type of performance aspired.
“For Dre, I think his battle this year will be staying healthy and staying consistent. I think he has a capacity for football and he has a really high IQ. I think he loves competition,” Hagans said. “And I think the more and more he can be consistent, day in and day out, I think he’s got a chance to be a really good player. I think he’ll play his best football this year.”
Penn State is counting on it, as is Lambert-Smith, as the 2023 season quickly approaches.
Determined to demonstrate his worthiness as Penn State’s top receiver, and among the best in the Big Ten and the nation, Lambert-Smith believes he has the answers to help unlock the offense’s highest potential. And, in time, he’ll show it.
“Like I tell everybody, I haven’t done anything yet. I’m still waiting to prove myself,” he said. “But I know what I can do. I honestly know what I can do. And it’s going to be a year where I’m the number one, so everybody else is gonna see what I can do.”
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