Top takeaway from Jalen Nailor's two-TD day for Michigan State football: 'Not just a deep threat'
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Jalen Nailor took off running.
Michigan State football’s sophomore beat his man down the left sideline and darted toward the middle on the post route. Payton Thorne sent a spiral high down the field, and his wide receiver zipped underneath it for a 45-yard touchdown reception.
It was part of Nailor’s second 100-yard receiving day this season, hitting the century mark on the dot with his six-catch, two-touchdown performance in the Spartans’ 35-29 loss at Penn State on Saturday.
“Jalen is growing as a player,” MSU coach Mel Tucker said. “He's actually becoming a leader, not just a play-maker. He's starting to lead, he plays with confidence. And we can see he's not just a deep threat.”
Nailor’s score on that play was his third touchdown of 30-plus yards and his team-leading seventh catch of 20-or-more yards this season. The 6-foot, 180-pounder added his fourth TD of the year on a 7-yard fade to the corner, pulling the ball away from Penn State’s Marquis Wilson for his first multi-TD game.
Nailor has caught at least one pass in 12 straight games, the most of any current Spartan, after an injury-filled start to his MSU career.
“We can see he's not just a deep threat,” Tucker said. “He can make some intermediate catches with his hands.”
Morgan’s moment
It was a momentous first catch for redshirt freshman Tre’Von Morgan.
The 6-7, 230-pound redshirt freshman from Massillon, Ohio, used every inch of his frame to extend over double coverage for a 26-yard touchdown from quarterback Payton Thorne in the second quarter. Morgan, who missed last season with a knee injury, added a 20-yard catch on MSU’s final drive after getting pushed out of bounds, re-establishing position and catching the ball at Penn State’s 10.
“He's been really working in practice, and you gotta do in practice before you can do it on Saturdays and (so) the coaches trust to put you out there,” Thorne said of Morgan. “Credit to him for working the way he has.”
Knockout blow
Penn State delivered three-punch combo to open the second half that knocked out MSU’s upset bid.
A time-consuming drive with QB Sean Clifford dinking and dunking his way to an 8-yard TD toss to Parker Washington and 2-point pass to Jahan Dotson pulled the Nittany Lions within 21-18. Backup QB Will Revis alternated with Clifford and ran in a 1-yard score that gave PSU its first lead with 2 seconds left in the third quarter.
Clifford, who was 17 of 27 for 232 yards, threw his second touchdown as MSU’s Angelo Grose bit on a pump fake to Dotson near the line of scrimmage that left Washington open in the secondary for a 49-yard score. And Dotson added an 81-yard punt return as the knockout blow with 11:24 to play.
MSU’s defense gave up 232 of Penn State’s 405 yards in the second half.
“There's a disappointment of we didn't get it done,” Tucker said. “And we know what we needed to do to get it done. ... There's no such thing as a safe lead, especially in college football. We all know you gotta play for 60 minutes, you gotta play for four quarters.”
Injury update
MSU played without senior defensive end Jacub Panasiuk, who had started all six games this season after initially opting out. Sophomore cornerback Chris Jackson also was not in uniform.
Others who were not in uniform: defensive tackle Jalen Hunt, wide receiver Ricky White, tight end Trenton Gillison and offensive lineman Matt Allen.
MSU had two players get dinged up during the game, but linebacker Antjuan Simmons (left leg) and safety Michael Dowell (right leg) both returned.
Freshman running back Jordon Simmons, after missing two games, returned with a career-best 76 yards in equaling his high of 14 carries.
Odds and ends
Simmons had 10 tackles, his sixth double-digit tackle game this season and his fourth in a row. … Senior kicker Matt Coghlin’s 23-yard field goal in the third quarter pushed him to 305 career points, the fifth player in MSU history to reach that mark and the first since Michael Geiger in 2016. Coghlin has made a field goal in every game this season and is second on MSU’s career list with 64.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football's Jalen Nailor scores twice vs. Penn State
