Penn State coach James Franklin talked with reporters after Wednesday’s bye week practice.
During the session, Franklin was asked the status of Penn State’s No. 2 receiver, Trey Wallace.
Wallace had a promising start to this season, catching seven passes for 72 yards in Penn State’s season-opening win over West Virginia at Beaver Stadium.
He caught three passes for 26 yards the next week against Delaware. Since then, he hasn’t caught a pass. Wallace missed Penn State’s Week 3 game at Illinois and this past Saturday’s game at Northwestern due to injury. In between, he played against Iowa, but didn’t put up any numbers.
Franklin gave an encouraging prognosis on Wallace’s future.
“He was really full-go last week,” Franklin said, “and got stepped on and tweaked it again. So it’s just kind of one of those things, sometimes. But he looked good today, so we anticipate having him back. Like I said, he was really going to be back the week before.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Without Wallace, Penn State doesn’t have a definitive No. 2 receiver. Behind KeAndre Lambert-Smith (372 yards, three touchdowns, 25 catches), Penn State’s next leading receiver is a tight end and Tyler Warren, and its No. 3 leading receiver is running back Nicholas Singleton.
Penn State has time to figure things out. The team won’t play anybody this weekend, then has a gimme game with UMass at Beaver Stadium Oct. 14. The week after that, the team has its biggest test of the year at mighty Ohio State.
If this Penn State team is to win the Big Ten, which many think it can, Wallace is likely to play a role.
“Being able to get Trey back would help,” Franklin said, “because he’s a guy that’s been able to play a lot of football for us.
