We probably won’t know for sure if one of Penn State football’s best players will be good to go Saturday until kickoff.
But the fact that defensive end Chop Robinson was practicing Wednesday is certainly a positive sign.
DE Chop Robinson is back at practice after missing Penn State’s last two games against Maryland and Indiana with an injury 👋 pic.twitter.com/SB7hP8ayDz
— Seth Engle (@bigsengtweets) November 8, 2023
Robinson suffered an injury in the second quarter against Ohio State Oct. 21 and missed the next two games, against Indiana at home and at Maryland.
Coach James Franklin said Monday in his weekly press conference that Penn State was “hopeful” for Robinson to go for Saturday’s showdown against Michigan, and during the media’s weekly Wednesday viewing window, No. 44 was there.
Robinson inspired his team Saturday despite not playing. The game was at Maryland, which is Robinson’s home state and, for his first college season, was his home school as well. Despite being ruled out and not being on the travel roster, Penn State was able to travel him due to a waiver.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Franklin also said Monday that the team’s hopeful to have fellow defensive end Amin Vanover back.
As for Chop, Franklin spoke about his impact after Saturday’s game.
“We traveled him from a rehab standpoint,” he said. “There’s certain things when you have certain injuries that you have to do to work back and be able to get back on the field. So being able to get him out, being able to run him, being able to get some movement stuff without any contact is part of his kind of protocol to come back. So that’s why we were able to do that. As you guys know, in the old days, that may be in a little bit of like trying to kind of hide whose healthy and who’s not. But we have to turn that information, so we weren’t kind of doing that.”
Penn State’s defense was dominant Saturday even without Robinson, picking up five sacks and allowing -49 rushing yards. But considering Robinson’s thought by many to be a first-round 2024 draft pick, it’s safe to say Penn State’s better with him.
