Penn State names former Purdue standout Stubblefield new wide receivers coach

By: Michael Love
Sunday, January 19, 2020 | 6:08 PM

Taylor Stubblefield set Big Ten and national records as a wide receiver at Purdue, and he now hopes to lift Penn State’s receiving corps to similar lofty heights.

Penn State coach James Franklin on Sunday named Stubblefield the program’s wide receivers coach.

Stubblefield takes over for Gerad Parker, now the offensive coordinator at West Virginia.

“It’s a great honor to join Coach Franklin and the Penn State football family,” Stubblefield said in a news release. “As a product of the Big Ten, I embrace the magnitude of coaching at one of the premier programs in the nation and in one of the most accomplished conferences in all of college football. My family and I are fired up to call State College home.”

Excited to welcome @CoachStubbs to the #PennState Football family! ????⚪️

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— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) January 19, 2020

Stubblefield comes to Penn State after serving as wide receivers coach at Miami (Fla.).

He also made coaching stops at Air Force, where he helped Falcons receivers average 17.7 yards per reception over a two-season span, as well as Wake Forest, Utah and with the Toronto Argonauts (2016) of the Canadian Football League.

His coaching career, which has included mentoring several all-conference players, began at Central Washington in 2007 and included stints at Eastern Michigan (2008), Illinois State (2009-10) Central Michigan (2011) and New Mexico (2012).

Stubblefield made a name for himself on the field with the Boilermakers, and in addition to All-American honors, he was a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s most outstanding receiver, as a senior in 2004.

He finished his playing career at Purdue with an NCAA-record 325 receptions and ranked second in Big Ten history with 3,629 yards. His college teammate, John Standeford, set the Big Ten record for most receiving yards (3,788) from 2000-03.

Stubblefield still owns the Big Ten receptions record, while his NCAA receptions record stood until 2011 when Oklahoma’s Ryan Broyles took the top spot.

Stubblefield now ranks sixth.

After graduating from Purdue, Stubblefield played in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers and St. Louis Rams and in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.