Penn State Football: Nittany Lions wide receiver Kaden Saunders out with long-term injury

Penn State wide receiver Kaden Saunders has been snakebitten with injuries so far in his Nittany Lions career. Now a redshirt junior in Happy Valley, BWI has confirmed that Saunders is once again dealing with an injury that is likely to keep him off the field in 2025. 

Penn State no longer classifies injuries as season-ending, due to the open-ended nature of the term of the length of the season. But in program lingo, Saunders’ latest setback is considered of the long-term variety. He played in just four games last season, appearing primarily as a punt returner early in the season. He was on the shelf for good following the Illinois game at the end of September. Saunders also saw limited action in the spring, though he did appear in the spring game in April.

His original injury dated back to the early part of camp a year ago, when he was expected to be a part of the receiver rotation in 2024. Saunders made it back for the season-opener against West Virginia, but he was deployed solely as a punt returner. Penn State chose to use him situationally due to his ability to secure the football in a boisterous atmosphere in Morgantown.

“We showed the team a stat the other day,” Penn State special teams coordinator Justin Lustig said before the season. “There were 199 muffed punts in college football last year. So it starts with catching the football. It starts with having range and not allowing a ball to bounce down the field. And Kaden gives us both of those. I don’t mean to discredit his playmaking ability. But, he is as solid as can be in those first two areas.”

Saunders was one of the key members of Penn State’s 2022 class

A former Top 100 recruit out of Westerville South High School in the Columbus area, Saunders was one of the first players to jump on board with the Nittany Lions in the Class of 2022 back in July of 2020. An Under Armour All-American, Saunders was a unanimous four-star prospect and the No. 16 wide receiver in his class according to the Rivals Industry rankings. 

He played in three games as a true freshman, preserving his redshirt while catching two passes for 21 yards in his first ever action against Ohio. He would go on to appear at Auburn and play in the Rose Bowl against Utah. In 2023, he played in 12 games with the Nittany Lions, catching six passes for 56 yards and his only career touchdown to date, which came late in a loss at Ohio State. 

In his career, Saunders has hauled in eight passes for 56 yards and a touchdown. He has 14 punt returns logged for a total of 86 yards. He is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection at Penn State. 

Nittany Lions’ wide receiver room in transition ahead of 2025 season

Saunders’ absence for the 2025 season has been a poorly-kept secret around the program. The Nittany Lions began camp earlier this week and Saunders was not expected to be a participant. Penn State brought in three transfers at the position and hope guys like Kyron Hudson, Trebor Pena and Devonte Ross can help jump start a unit that has been labeled the team’s Achilles’ Heel. 

“At receiver, that’s been the big conversation,” James Franklin said last month at Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas. “We went out in the portal and brought in three really productive players. What we hope to do is spread that ball around to all of those people. It makes us more difficult to defend.”

Penn State had Hudson and Ross for the spring, and added Pena to the mix in the summer. The Nittany Lions are banking on past production to carry over in Drew Allar’s final season.

“It’s a short period of time, right?” Franklin speculated. “The first thing is, you better take production. You better take proven production at the college level… If you’re gonna take a veteran player, he had to have a high level of production. We got three guys that have done that, two of which were captains at their previous school, which I also think speaks volumes. 

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“Those guys were able to get here early enough that they were physically able to develop and that they were mentally able to learn the systems. So, yeah, ton of value in that. Again, a lot of times the good Lord don’t give you everything, you’re still going to take a guy and he may have to get to campus late. It never, typically, is never like a perfect or ideal situation. You’ve got to pick and choose what what is most important to you. But we were fortunate this year [that] we were able to get three guys on campus as early as possible and really get them ingrained into our program as soon as possible — building that chemistry with the quarterbacks, not only out on the field throwing, but Drew’s had a ton of meetings with the receivers this summer as well. So really valuable.”