Penn State coach James Franklin updates status of Chop Robinson, JB Nelson, and Amin Vanover
Penn State coach James Franklin is unsure if the No. 10 Nittany Lions will have all their injured players back for Saturday’s Noon ET meeting with Indiana on CBS. But, he was asked about where things stand with three of them during his weekly post-practice news conference on Wednesday.
The first player who came up was guard JB Nelson. He was carted off at Northwestern in the first half due to an undisclosed injury. After the bye week, he was not seen at Beaver Stadium before or during the Massachusetts game. He then traveled to Ohio State last week but warmed up and then did not play in the 20-12 loss at The Horseshoe. Franklin said he was only going to be used in an “emergency” against the Buckeyes. But, he is fully available this week. He will likely start. But, he will probably rotate with guard Vega Ioane. The second-year Nittany Lion filled in for him against the Minutemen and at OSU.
More: Penn State practice report: What did we learn about the Lions’ offense and defense before Indiana?
On the other side of the ball, the readiness of defensive end Amin Vanover, who was injured at Ohio State and walked off the Ohio Stadium turf with his arm around a member of the program’s medical staff after the game, will be determined on Saturday.
“I think Amin could be a little bit like JB [was last week], a game time decision,” Franklin said. “And then even then, depending on how much work he got during the week, will still be a decision that needs to be made.
“I think a little bit of it too, is, how veteran of a player is it? In terms of, how much practice time they miss and how much football they’ve played here. That plays a part in to it as well.”
Last but not least, the status of veteran end Chop Robinson’s status is also unclear after he suffered a scary-looking injury at Ohio State and was eventually carted off to the locker room after being helped off the field and entering the injury tent in the second quarter.
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“With Chop, we hope to get him back sooner rather than later. But, I don’t have any of that information right now.”
The Lions will use Jamieal Lyons if needed Saturday
Penn State will likely start Dani Dennis-Sutton opposite of Adisa Isaac at defensive end if Robinson is out. More opportunities for freshman defensive lineman Jamieal Lyons are expected, as well. He is likely to use a year of eligibility in 2023 either way. So far, he has played in three regular season games. He can suit up for a total of four regular season games. A fifth would burn his redshirt.
“I think I made a comment like, there are some positions, and some guys, that I think would have played [if Penn State didn’t have so many veteran starters], and I think that’s a good example with Jameial,” Franklin said. “I think there’s also part of it too, with new players, whether they’re high school or transfer players, are you playing them in certain packages? Or are they ready to handle all of it?
“And I think with Jameial early on, it was like, we’re going to use him in certain packages, but not all of it. But, as the season goes on, you hope that you’re at a point at this stage that he can handle more. So, obviously this week has been great work for him, today and yesterday. We still got Thursday. We still got Friday. But hopefully he’ll have an opportunity to play on Saturday and take advantage. I think you guys have seen, he’s made some flashes in the games he has played in. And then, same thing in practice. So there’s excitement about him.”
