Who's up next at defensive end for Penn State? James Franklin weighs in
STATE COLLEGE — The Penn State defensive line room continues preseason camp on Saturday without one of its expected contributors. Defensive end Jameial Lyons is one of two Nittany Lions who are no longer with the program, with the other being linebacker Kaveion Keys. Head coach James Franklin would not have any comment on the matter, a program spokesperson said before the team’s local media day started. Neither are currently enrolled at the university. Both were not at the first day of practices back on Wednesday. At the time, an athletic department spokesperson said both were on an interim suspension due to a personal matter. It remains unclear what that matter is and also what changed between their interim suspension and their dismissal over the course of four days.
Lyons had sophomore eligibility, while Keys was a redshirt freshman. The former, a defensive end, was set to be a breakout performer following a strong freshman campaign during which he used a year of eligibility. Keys, then, was recognized as the program’s best scout team player on defense and special teams in 2023 and was likely to have a major special teams role, at worst, in addition to opportunities at linebacker.
Franklin, the 11th-year leader of the Nittany Lions, was not asked about the linebackers. But, he did discuss the state of the defensive end and specifically who may now have bigger roles. The group is led by returning starter Dani Dennis-Sutton and All-Big Ten linebacker Abdul Carter, who will play both end and linebacker this fall.
More: Penn State roster reset: What do Jameial Lyons, Kaveion Keys departures mean?
“Amin Vanover is a guy I don’t think enough people are talking about. And another guy people aren’t talking about is Smith Vilbert. He’s a guy we have a lot of confidence in as a program. You talk about big, strong, physical, experienced, and mature; that gives us three defensive ends who have played a ton of football with Vanover, Dani [Dennis-Sutton], and Vilbert. And then you have Abdul [Carter], who is new to the position but has played a ton of football. And then we got Mason Robinson, who’s going into year two in the program. We’re going need for him to take a significant step for us.”
The program also welcomed former Class of 2025 defensive end commit Max Granville into the program ahead of preseason camp after he reclassified.
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“He’s already flashed in the first two days. Athletic, quick, a lot of things you saw on the high school tape. He also tested really well. We had no idea until very late in the process that this was even something they were thinking about. It’s one thing to be thinking about it and another to actually do it. He was taking summer classes to ensure he could come at mid-semester, but then he realized he could qualify now. So far, first impression, really good, but there’s a big difference between running around in shorts and a T-Shirt then full pads. So, we’ll see.”
Penn State returns Joseph Mupoyi and welcomes freshman Mylachi Williams and Jaylen Harvey into the program at defensive end, as well.
More Penn State Media Days updates
Franklin is speaking at Penn State Media Day. The annual event here starts at Beaver Stadium and will eventually transition to Holuba Hall for interviews with players and assistant coaches. Before that, though, all three first-year coordinators speak following Franklin inside the media room at the 107,000-seat venue. Blue-White Illustrated will have continuing coverage from the interview sessions and then tonight’s brief open portion of practice. Here’s what you’ve missed from the BWI team so far over the last 24 hours:
Penn State roster reset: What do Jameial Lyons, Kaveion Keys departures mean?
What are the top 5 questions facing Penn State at today’s team media day?
What is Penn State getting in receiver Lavar Keys?: Commitment impact
