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Penn State football injury updates: The latest on Anthony Donkoh, Andrew Rappleyea, and other Nittany Lions

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•about 17 hours•

GregPickel

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Offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh (Credit: Frank Hyatt | Blue White Illustrated)

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State football dealt with plenty of injury issues during the 2024 season. Three Nittany Lions will not be fully available for spring practice, which starts on Tuesday, because of them. Head coach James Franklin said that tight end Andrew Rappleyea, right tackle Anthoy Donkoh, and linebacker Tony Rojas are all still working their way back to being 100 percent. He did not rule out one or all of them returning to action at some point before the Blue-White game on April 26 at Beaver Stadium. But, they won’t be full go to start.

“I don’t want to speak in terms of the length of spring ball, because I don’t know exactly how that will play out, but they will not be fully available in the beginning of spring ball,” Franklin said. “And we’ll just see how that goes. It’s hard to say. Everybody kind of heals differently and at a different pace, and how they attack treatment and those types of things.

“Obviously, our doctors and trainers kind of have basic guidelines about how long certain injuries take to heal and things like that that they go by. But that’s hard to say. But they’re not completely available to start spring ball. There’s some things they’ll be able to do and there’s some things that they won’t.”

More: What is the Penn State plan for the Blue-White game? Here’s what James Franklin said

Donkoh was ruled out for the season in November with a lower body injury. He was seen throughout the team’s College Football Playoff run in walking boots and on crutches. Nolan Rucci took over the right tackle job in his absence. The two will resume battling for the job later this offseason and during preseason camp. Rojas suffered an upper body injury early in the season but played through it and was later seen with his arm in a sling following the conclusion of the postseason. Rappleyea suffered a long-term lower body injury in September that kept him out for the entirety of the season.

“Obviously, we have some new and moving parts that we’re working through,” Franklins said. “So these 15 practices will be very, very important. We had a really good winter workout period. The guys are in a really good place. Been very, very pleased with how the staff has handled some of the adjustments.

“It’s been a grind, as you know, just like on offense, the time that we have to spend on defense, getting everybody on the same page, staff, first, players, second, has been good, but there’s still a ton of work that has to be done during the spring ball and then over the summer training period before we open the season up against Nevada.”

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