Penn State coach James Franklin shares update on recovering defender Zuriah Fisher
Blue-White Illustrated reported back in April that Penn State defensive end Zuriah Fisher had suffered a ‘serious leg injury’ that would likely cause him to miss the entire 2022 season. And, while he’s now and has been back on the practice field, that is still the expectation.
“He’s reached the next threshold,” head coach James Franklin said Wednesday night. “But, nothing’s changed to this point.”
Penn State was excited about how the redshirt sophomore might grow as a player ahead of spring practice and preseason camp. However, he never made it to the latter portion of the leadup to the season. But, it goes without saying that it’s a positive that Fisher has reached this stage in mid-October.
“Zuriah is another guy that’s had a really good offseason,” Franklin said back in March. “(I’m) really excited about him and the things that he’s been able to show. (He’s) another guy that carries the weight (and) has got really good length in terms of not only his height but his arm length and things like that. So, he carries weight between 265 and 270 extremely well, still looks skinny.
“I think the offseason, in terms of another year of playing defensive end since he didn’t do that in high school, he was a tight end and linebacker in high school and basketball player, so there were some things about the defensive end position that he still needed to get comfortable with and learn. But, he’s trending in the right direction.”
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Penn State continues prepping for Michigan
Later in his news conference, Franklin was asked if he was happy about where his team is coming out of a bye week before it battles No. 5 Michigan. He was pleased on Tuesday about how well the program handled its stretch without an opponent. And, he had a similar tone when talking about the first two days of practice and whether or not his players are ready for a physical game before they leave for a battle at ‘The Big House’. Kickoff is set for Noon ET on Saturday. FOX will televise the game with its top crew of Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, and Jenny Taft.
“This is going to be a physical game,” Franklin said. “This is going to be big boy ball on both sides of the ball. We understand what we’re getting into.
“Again, we got a ton of respect for these guys. And you know what: We’ll find out on Saturday. But, we’ve practiced that way. And, I think for the most part this year, we played that way. We’re going to have to do it on Saturday.”
