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Elissa Florence Dennis

<p>September has played out very differently for Eugene Lewis this time around.</p><p>A year ago, the former Wyoming Valley Conference standout was among the national leaders at wide receiver in the early going. After three games in 2014, he had 20 catches for 380 yards and a touchdown. More than that, he played a critical role in last-minute, game-winning scoring drives against UCF and Rutgers.</p><p>This season after three games? Just three catches for 26 yards.</p><p>The main issue, perhaps, is that the Nittany Lions have had to drastically recalibrate their offense in the wake of a disastrous opening loss to Temple. For now, they are focusing almost exclusively on the run game and short passes.</p><p>As it is, those 26 yards are actually good for third place on the team.</p><p>Still, sophomores Chris Godwin and DaeSean Hamilton have seen the most snaps at wideout with Lewis third. Against Rutgers on Saturday, Saeed Blacknall saw more time in Lewis&#8217; place, though he did not have a catch.</p><p>On Tuesday, James Franklin said there&#8217;s a way for Lewis to change that as the Lions&#8217; passing game gradually rebuilds heading into Saturday&#8217;s game against San Diego State.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s no different than any other position. We&#8217;re looking for guys to be consistent,&#8221; the Penn State coach said of Lewis at his weekly press conference. &#8220;Consistency, I think, is the factor with a lot of our guys at a number of positions. They show flashes of doing special things. They want to be able to do it more consistently. We want them to do it more consistently.</p><p>&#8220;So I think Geno&#8217;s in that conversation, like a number of guys are.&#8221;</p><p>Penn State opened the season with plenty of three-receiver sets against Temple but has gone to more and more two- and even three-tight end formations to help out the offensive line. That has cut down the opportunities for some of the wideouts.</p><p>The Lions have also been trying to carve out bigger roles for speedy freshmen Brandon Polk and DeAndre Thompkins, both of whom have scored rushing touchdowns on jet sweep plays.</p><p>&#8220;The more, the better,&#8221; Lewis said last month of the expanding wideout corps. &#8220;If we have more guys who make more plays, that&#8217;s fine with me. When the opportunities come, I&#8217;m going to try to take advantage of them. I want to win. Whatever I can do to help.&#8221;</p><p>As has been the case since he was redshirting back in 2012, Lewis was one of the first people to congratulate teammates like Thompkins and running back Akeel Lynch after scoring touchdowns last week.</p><p>Franklin went out of his way Tuesday to laud Lewis&#8217; attitude, which he said has been noticed by people outside of the football facilities.</p><p>&#8220;We love Geno,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;He&#8217;s had a great career here. He continues to be a great teammate. I got an email the other day from a professor who met him on campus, and she was just blown away with how he presented himself and how he carried himself. So much so that she took the time to write an email.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Addressing &#8216;tension&#8217;</strong></p><p>The release of former Sen. George Mitchell&#8217;s September report on Penn State didn&#8217;t quite make the same headlines this year. In 2014, Mitchell &#8212; the NCAA-appointed monitor who has been overseeing the university&#8217;s reform in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal &#8212; recommended that the Lions&#8217; bowl ban be lifted and scholarships restored.</p><p>On Monday, Mitchell&#8217;s latest report announced that Penn State had made enough progress that his group&#8217;s oversight would end in December, two years earlier than originally planned.</p><p>School officials were pleased with the news. But there was one interesting item tucked into the report, which noted that &#8220;there is evidence of increased tension, and a mutual lack of trust, between the head football coach and University athletics compliance staff.&#8221;</p><p>Franklin did not go into specifics on Tuesday but put a different spin on the situation.</p><p>&#8220;The way I look at it is, I think we have healthy dialogue,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;I really do. I think we have healthy dialogue and back-and-forth with the compliance office. Look forward to continuing to strengthen those relationships. Representing Penn State the right way, representing Penn State football the right way, and building a program that everybody can be proud of.</p><p>&#8220;(Penn State President Eric Barron) talked about that tension, when it&#8217;s the right way, is a positive. And we look at it the same way.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Infirmary report</strong></p><p>The Lions got two injured defensive starters, linebacker Brandon Bell and cornerback Grant Haley, back in the lineup last week. Reserve linebacker Ben Kline has also begun practicing again and Franklin hopes to ease the senior back into action.</p><p>As for top tackle Andrew Nelson, Franklin wouldn&#8217;t give a timeframe for his return. But he acknowledged that he would have revealed if the sophomore&#8217;s knee injury had been season-ending, as he did with linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White.</p><p>&#8220;Injuries that are week-to-week or could even be a couple weeks, we don&#8217;t get into those specifics,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;But, yeah, you could read into that however you&#8217;d like to read into that.&#8221;</p><p>Tight end Adam Breneman, who has missed the first three games of the season with an undisclosed injury, gave a brief update on Twitter on Monday.</p><p>&#8220;I appreciate the constant support from teammates and PSU family,&#8221; Breneman wrote. &#8220;I&#8217;m working my hardest to be back on the field with my brothers soon.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State&#8217;s passing game is off to a slow start this season and numbers have dipped for wide receivers like Eugene Lewis (left). </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_lewis-practice.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State&#8217;s passing game is off to a slow start this season and numbers have dipped for wide receivers like Eugene Lewis (left). </caption0><photoCredit0>Joe Hermitt | AP photo, PennLive.com </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>UP NEXT</strong></p><p>San Diego State at Penn State</p><p>3:30 p.m., Saturday, BTN</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State looking for ‘consistency’ from Eugene Lewis