Penn State's Jahan Dotson, Ji'Ayir Brown claim Big Ten Player of the Week honors

Penn State Nittany Lions football’s Jahan Dotson and Ji’Ayir Brown each garnered Big Ten Player of the Week honors for their roles in Penn State’s win over Maryland this weekend.

Penn State’s Dotson shares Big Ten honors on offense

Dotson almost singlehandedly propelled the Nittany Lion offense to a victory over Maryland on Saturday, setting a new school record with 242 receiving yards, finding the end zone three times.

For that contribution, he shared Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors with Aidan O’Connell of Purdue, who threw for 536 yards against Michigan State.

One of Dotson’s touchdowns proved to be the game-winner. He took an early fourth quarter pass from Sean Clifford 86 yards for a Penn State touchdown. He also came down with touchdown receptions of 38 and 21 yards in the first half.

Was James Franklin surprised? Absolutely not.

“I’m not surprised at all by what he did tonight,” Franklin said. “They were playing very aggressive man coverage, either Cover One or Cover Zero. We knew if we got the ball in his hands, he could make those type of plays. He’s really done it his entire career.”

Dotson said, in a loss last season, he took some of the coverages Maryland used personally.

“We know the coverages they were going to give us,” Dotson said. “Last year, they played us man the entire game, so we kind of took that personal, took that on the wide receivers.

“That’s a wide receiver’s dream, man coverage. We weren’t able to execute last year, we weren’t able to get enough points on the board. We kind of took that on the wide receivers’ shoulders. When you’re one-on-one, you’ve gotta win. That’s what you do as a wide receiver. You gotta separate.”

Maryland coach Mike Locksley told the media after the game that he was very disappointed by his team’s effort against Dotson. They’d identified him as a threat before the game, and knew what he was capable of.

“He ran slant routes for 242 yards against man coverage,” Locksley said.

Dotson is now up over 2,500 receiving yards for his Penn State career. He’s also averaging over 100 yards per game this season thanks to this explosion.

Brown is Big Ten defensive player of the week

Brown also left his mark on the Maryland win.

He led the Nittany Lions with nine tackles, but it was his contributions in the takeaway column that set him apart.

He pounced on a Maryland fumble inside the Penn State red zone in the second half, with the Terrapins looking to punch the ball in to tie the game at 14. That in and of itself was a huge moment.

But Brown one-upped it later. With Maryland on its last legs, down two scores late in the fourth quarter, he stepped in front of a Taulia Tagovailoa pass and returned it 87 yards for a touchdown.

“We always go into every game looking for that moment,” Brown said. “We’re always trying to score on defense. A three-and-out, a punt, that’s the least of what we expect. We want to get a turnover. We want to score on defense. That’s how we approach every game.

“To do it in that moment is great. Coach [Brent] Pry called a great defense and I was able to execute, being in the right place at the right time, and was able to score a touchdown for us to push the lead up a little bit more. It’s a blessing just to be able to do that for the offense.”