James Franklin on Landon Tengwall's retirement: 'He's a part of our family. Always has been, always will be'
Penn State offensive lineman Landon Tengwall announced his retirement from football on Wednesday night. The redshirt sophomore from Maryland said he has “sustained an injury that will not allow me to safely continue to play the game I love and that has given me so much.” No additional details were made available.
Lions head coach James Franklin addressed the news about an hour after Tengwall shared it on his Twitter page.
“I had a really good meeting with Landon and his dad earlier this week … as you know, I’m not going to get into the specifics of it, but I think you’ll be seeing Landon around here, hopefully pretty soon,” Franklin said after practice Wednesday night in State College. “We just talked about it as a team as well. We’re going to be as supportive as we possibly can. This is a hard thing, as you can imagine. He’s been playing football his entire life. I would ask the Penn State community and the media to be as respectful of their process as possible.”
Tengwall started five games at left guard in 2022 before a shoulder injury ended his season. He did return for spring practice. His playing days are now over. But, his time as a Nittany Lion is not.
“This is a major life change,” Franklin said. Take some time, and then I think you’ll see him, whether it’s coaching, or recruiting, or strength and conditioning; at the end of the day, he’s a part of our family. Always has been, always will be, and that will never change based on the circumstances.”
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Penn State offensive line plan moving forward
With Tengwall announcing his retirement, Penn State is expected to start redshirt junior JB Nelson at left guard in 2023. The Pittsburgh, Pa., native joined the Lions before the 2022 season and played in four games last fall. He was talented enough to have possibly played in more. But, the program was able to preserve a year of eligibility for the lineman, who started his college career by playing two seasons at Lackawanna College in Scranton.
“We went into this year feeling like JB was going to factor in, either as a starter or starter type reps, is how I viewed it coming into the season.” Franklin said last week. “He’s built on that.
“His habits are a lot better in terms of how he practices, approaches, meetings, and everything else. You can make the argument he may be our most physical offensive lineman. I know talking to our defensive linemen, they got a ton of respect. So we expected him to play a significant role this year.”
Added starting left tackle Olu Fashanu during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday:
“Everyone in the program knew how talented JB was. But this preseason he took a very big step not only in his development but everything. I, alongside everyone in the program, am extremely excited for JB.”
