PENN STATE FOOTBALL Springfield's Smolko, receivers taste hard work

Joe Paterno says the Nittany Lions' receiving corps was horrible in 2003.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- Stuck behind three senior tight ends, Isaac Smolko, a Springfield High graduate, didn't catch many passes last year. But even in practice, he wasn't getting it from the quarterbacks.
With spring drills coming to an end, though, Smolko and the rest of Penn State's receiving corps are working more closely than ever with their quarterbacks in an effort to shore up one of last year's most glaring weaknesses.
"Instead of being with a quarterback catching balls, we'd be with a coach catching balls," Smolko said. This spring, he said, "we have a lot more drills working with the quarterbacks than normal."
For anyone who saw Penn State during last year's 3-9 season -- their worst in decades -- the reasons for the change are obvious.
Despite having a number of experienced receivers, the Nittany Lions were plagued by blown routes, dropped passes and interceptions.
Blame
Things were so bad that last month, coach Joe Paterno identified receivers as one of the top two priorities for the spring, calling last year's receiving corps "horrible" and blaming most of the quarterbacks' problems on the receivers.
"They didn't run routes the same way twice in a row, and the quarterbacks had some indecision sometimes because they weren't sure what was happening downfield," Paterno said.
Such criticism hits close to home for Gerald Smith, the team's top returning receiver.
"The team wasn't really together last year," Smith said. "We started losing, and then all these different things came into play, criticism of the receiving corps from everybody. It was a lack of concentration from all those factors."
Confidence boost
But Smith thinks the new setup will help the receivers with their confidence. In previous years, quarterbacks and receivers worked out separately, and when something went wrong it was often because of a miscommunication.
Now, quarterbacks and receivers hold their meetings together and run their drills together. Already, Smith said, he can see a better rapport between the two units.
"That's one of the biggest differences since I've been here," Smith said. "It's just better communication if you meet together."
Smolko said that Mike McQueary's move to wide receivers coach would also help the receivers, describing former receivers coach Kenny Carter as being "like a dictator." Smolko said McQueary's approach relies more on positive reinforcement.
"He's not so hard on them about their lanes and stuff as long as they're catching the ball," Smolko said. "I mean, he wants them to run good lanes, but he's not changing everything they do to catch the ball.
"He makes them work -- they work hard," Smolko said. "And I think he might give them a little more confidence in catching the ball than they might have had."