Penn State football receiver Koby Howard has not yet been officially cleared to play against Purdue on Saturday.

However, the sophomore is inching closer to returning each day, starting with participation in both Tuesday and Wednesday practices, according to Matt Campbell.

“I feel really strongly that [he’s] questionable,” Campbell said Wednesday. “I think we’ll see what tomorrow really looks like and feel confident that, if he is playing, what does that look like? How many reps does that look like? And if he’s not ready, I’m not putting him on that football field until he’s 100% ready to go.”

That conservative return-to-play mindset is undoubtedly the right call by Campbell and Penn State’s medical staff.

But the potential near-insertion of Howard back into the Penn State offense certainly sparks excitement not only among blue-and-white fans, but also among Howard’s fellow playmakers.

“It’s going to be really special when you see everyone back out there again,” receiver Zay Robinson said after Wednesday’s practice.

Frustratingly, Penn State’s offense hasn’t consistently benefited from a full-strength receiving unit in 2026.

Receiver Chase Sowell missed a large chunk of the offseason, while Brett Eskildsen started the regular season banged up but played through his discomfort.

Still, Howard bulldozed through non-conference play, totaling 368 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns on just 14 touches.

However, Howard suffered an injury against Buffalo in Week 3, prompting Campbell to announce on September 23 that Penn State’s top playmaker would be out for an “extended period of time”.

The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time, as Penn State was forced to begin its Big Ten gauntlet without its alpha on the perimeter.

Quarterback Rocco Becht and the offense sputtered in four straight conference losses, ranking No. 13 in the Big Ten in total yards per game. Becht threw just three touchdowns and committed six turnovers in that span.

Sowell, though, stepped up big time in Howard’s absence, logging 384 yards and two touchdowns on 26 catches from Week 4 to Week 7. The redshirt senior put together a career-high 151 yards and a touchdown on 11 catches against Michigan.

With a healthy Howard on the horizon, Sowell knows just how much Howard’s “swag” can help the offense.

“He has the visor, he’s got the sleeve, he’s got all the accessories … But he also balls out, and he works his butt off,” Sowell said. “So I let him do whatever he does because, at the end of the day, he’s put in the work, and he’s confident in going out there and doing what he does because he knows how much he’s put in.”

Receivers with Howard’s level of swag aren’t always team players, but that couldn’t be further from his reality.

The fifth-year veteran Sowell has noticed Howard using his time off the field to further embrace a leadership role, despite being in just his second year of college football.

“Just how he is around the facility, how he’s helping guys in the position room, how he’s helping guys with their film study, get extra jugs,” Sowell said. “He’s always trying to find ways to help the team.”

Howard’s work ethic has been championed inside the Lasch Football Building, often identified as the first in the building in the mornings and one of the last to leave after staying late to work on the jugs machine.

But above all, Sowell “can’t wait” for Howard to return to the field on Saturdays and create a true two-headed monster capable of attacking coverage and opening up space for Becht to operate downfield.

“Both of those guys, any one-on-one matchup, they can take it no matter where they’re at on the field,” Robinson said of Howard and Sowell. “Both those guys can play in the slot … I think they both complement each other great in that way, and they are both physical, want to play ball, and are really great football players.”

The Nittany Lions haven’t seen two wide receivers finish a season with over 500 yards each since 2022, when Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley logged 611 and 577, respectively.

Furthermore, Penn State hasn’t had an alpha receiver in years, dating back to Jahan Dotson’s 1182-yard, 12 touchdown season in 2021.

Now, the Nittany Lions could potentially deploy two at once. For the receivers, this was the vision from the moment they arrived in Happy Valley.

“I think the narrative behind receivers here has been not good, obviously, and not been what has been expected,” Sowell said. “That was what Brett [Eskildsen], Amarion Jackson, Zay Robinson, Koby [Howard], as all of us talked about, was: ‘Hey, no matter what, we’re gonna do everything in our power to change the narrative here because this is gonna be one season that we’re gonna remember for the rest of our lives. Whether it goes good or bad, I want to have the memories that I know our room changed history.”