KJ Winston Jr. injury update: What did James Franklin say about the Penn State safety Wednesday?
Penn State safety KJ Winston Jr., did not play for most of the final three quarters two Saturdays ago against Bowling Green. The junior from Maryland left the field after his 14th snap of the game and never returned despite standing on the sideline for the rest of the first half and all of the second half in pads but without his helmet.
Head coach James Franklin had no immediate update on the All-American candidate after the game. Following a bye week, he also had no new information back on Monday as Bowling Green week kicked off. The 11th-year leader of the Nittany Lions did say, however, that he could know more following practice later in the week. And, in fact, he did. He did not provide good news, however. Winston Jr. is dealing with a long-term injury, Franklin said. The nature of the setback was not revealed. A timeline to return was not, either.
“I don’t think it impacts leadership a whole lot, because he’s still going to be heavily involved there,” Franklin said.
What is the Penn State outlook at safety?
Penn State started the year expecting to play Winston Jr., Jaylen Reed, and Zakee Wheatley a lot. That is exactly what happened in Week 1 at West Virginia. The trio took the most snaps on defense, totaling 60, 59, and 55, respectively, in Morgantown. Once Winston Jr., went out against the Falcons, his two co-starting teammates saw their workload rise considerably. Reed took a defense-high 68 snaps, and Wheatley was right behind him with 65. Their workload may not have to be as considerable against Kent State this Saturday, which is a 48.5-point underdog. But it’s still likely to be large, considering the team’s lack of depth at safety. After the top three, there is a clear drop off. Penn State is hoping true freshman Dejuan Lane can help fill the void with Winston Jr., sidelined.
“Dejuan is another guy that we’ve been trying to get more reps and more experience,” Franklin said Monday. That will be important, but we’re going to have to develop a few more guys. Especially, hopefully, we’ll see timing-wise how this whole thing will play out, but definitely for short-term we’re going to have to develop some more guys.
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“So Dejuan is going to be really important this week and obviously moving forward as well. He’s a guy that we’ve been trying to get more involved. We had planned on playing him more last week. Didn’t play out that way, but he’s probably the guy that I would say our focus is on the most right now.”
More: PSU practice report: What did we learn about the defense?
Beyond Lane, other scholarship safeties on the roster include redshirt senior Tyrece Mills, freshman Vaboue Toure, and redshirt freshman Lamont Payne Jr. (and Franklin said Antoine Belgrave-Shorter could get a look at safety, too.) Mills has three defensive snaps to his name so far this season and 27 on special teams, which is the fourth most on the team. Toure and Payne Jr., have not played yet this season.
Beyond safety play itself, this will also impact the program’s plan at the ‘Lion’ position. With Winston Jr., and Wheatley mostly manning the safety spots at West Virginia, Reed was freed up to play the nickel spot in the team’s 4-2-5 package. With Winston Jr., out for much of the BGSU game, Reed was forced to stay mostly at safety while cornerback Cam Miller moved to the nickel role for the majority of the game.
