It’s been, uh, quite a week on social media for Penn State football lettermen.
It started Tuesday, when former DL Robert Windsor posted a video to social media referencing the settled lawsuit filed on behalf of a fired Penn State Dr.
“It’s really the dark side of college football,” he said, “and I cannot tell you how many teammates I have had reach out to me and tell me how happy they are for what I did. So, once college football kicks off, get ready for me to launch my story on Penn State, what happened, the lawsuit, there’s going to be multiple videos.”
Coming soon pic.twitter.com/VAH1GJrgY5
— Robert Windsor (@RobertWindsor54) August 6, 2024
Unsurprisingly, this drew the ire of Penn State fans, and also at least two former players, one of which was Windsor’s teammate for two seasons.
“Came into school more immature than most….,” former PSU LB Jason Cabinda wrote to X. “Constantly in dawn patrol for skipping class and other immature reasons you had an academic staff and a head coach who stuck by you through thick and thin and saw you through it when most would have just let you go take your scholarship…
“And allow another school to “deal with you” they stick by you and make sure that you not only graduate but have a solid college career and help you get drafted and then you turn around and have the nerve to bite the hand that fed you… there’s levels to this type of foolishness.”
And allow another school to “deal with you” they stick by you and make sure that you not only graduate but have a solid college career and help you get drafted and then you turn around and have the nerve to bite the hand that fed you… there’s levels to this type of foolishness
— Jason Cabinda (@jasoncabinda) August 8, 2024
Cabinda wasn’t done.
“I rarely speak out on these type of things but the PSU/Franklin slander I just will not tolerate. Top notch program from top to bottom there’s no other way to put it. Football is a dangerous sport and guys fall through the cracks and f’d up stuff happens but that’s life.”
“I’ve seen coaches allow guys who contributed absolutely zero to their football teams,” Cabinda continued, “whether because of lack of skill or bad luck through injuries and I’ve seen coaches let guys go because of their simple lack of production or prone to injury and @coachjfranklin is not the latter.”
I’ve seen coaches allow guys who contributed absolutely zero to their football teams whether because of lack of skill or bad luck through injuries and I’ve seen coaches let guys go because of their simple lack of production or prone to injury and @coachjfranklin is not the latter
— Jason Cabinda (@jasoncabinda) August 9, 2024
“All in all football is a lot like life,” he wrote, “and unfortunately there are circumstances that come about that simply just freaking SUCK for some guys but end of the day that’s LIFE and to point out these circumstances that exist I promise you at ALL schools and try to make it some…
“PSU/Coach Franklin problem is just unfair… these are football issues. Issues with are sport that we know exist and that we know can happen when we sign up for the sport and that’s the risk we take to live out a dream simple as that. So please miss me w the PSU/Franklin slander.”
Cabinda ended with three words.
“I’ve had enough.”
All in all football is a lot like life and unfortunately there are circumstances that come about that simply just freaking SUCK for some guys but end of the day that’s LIFE and to point out these circumstances that exist I promise you at ALL schools and try to make it some
— Jason Cabinda (@jasoncabinda) August 9, 2024
I’ve had enough.
— Jason Cabinda (@jasoncabinda) August 9, 2024
As one might expect, Windsor had a response.
@jasoncabinda let’s talk about immaturity,” he wrote. “You and your family accused the training staff of purposely causing an infection in your thumb so that a white linebacker (BrandonSmith) would be starting 🤡 now all of a sudden there’s no problem with what was going on.”
He then told Cabinda to “keep sucking up to coach like you always have, it got you far in life why stop now 🫡”
Keep sucking up to coach like you always have, it got you far in life why stop now 🫡
— Robert Windsor (@RobertWindsor54) August 9, 2024
To this, legendary Penn State LB Michael Mauti, who captained the 2012 team that may saved the program, wrote:
“You’ve exhausted all credibility. The best course of action when you find yourself in a hole, Quit digging.”
You’ve exhausted all credibility. The best course of action when you find yourself in a hole, Quit digging.
— Michael Mauti (@Michael_Mauti) August 9, 2024
Mauti previously responded to Windsor’s initial video with a clown emoji.
Windsor hasn’t responded to Mauti, but did have more to say.
In a response to Cabinda’s post, Windsor first asked:
“Do you disagree that coaches should not have influence over medical decisions?”
Do you disagree that coaches should not have influence over medical decisions?
— Robert Windsor (@RobertWindsor54) August 9, 2024
He then wrote:
“I was denied medical treatment for an extreme sleeping disorder. Thank you for shedding light on this Jason. I am looking forward to providing an explanation to all your accusations.”
I was denied medical treatment for an extreme sleeping disorder. Thank you for shedding light on this Jason. I am looking forward to providing an explanation to all your accusations
— Robert Windsor (@RobertWindsor54) August 9, 2024
Windsor then made a separate post.
“If you weren’t apart of the team after Tim bream got removed as the head athletic trainer,” he wrote, “you have no opinion on this matter. That’s when things got really ugly.”
If you weren’t apart of the team after Tim bream got removed as the head athletic trainer you have no opinion on this matter. That’s when things got really ugly
— Robert Windsor (@RobertWindsor54) August 9, 2024
Bream was fired in February 2018, less than two months after Cabinda played his last college game.
Windsor had another interesting post.
It’s funny because one of the hosts on the State Media Podcast was going to testify as well until they started getting paid by the university 🤫
— Robert Windsor (@RobertWindsor54) August 9, 2024
“It’s funny because one of the hosts on the State Media Podcast was going to testify as well until they started getting paid by the university 🤫,” he wrote.
It’s not entirely clear who Windsor was referring to, but the two faces of the State Media Podcast network are former TE Adam Breneman and former QB Christian Hackenberg.
Windsor’s post was in response to a video State Media posted to its X account, which was a clip from an interview Breneman did with Windsor last November.
— State Media (@StateMediaPSU) August 9, 2024
“Coach Franklin is the guy; there’s no question about it,” Windsor told Breneman. “All these fans out here who are questioning Coach Franklin because he can’t beat Ohio State, I mean not that he can’t, he did it in 2016. But we’re talking about the No. 1 team in college football right now; that’s consistently great. Michigan, consistently great. And we’re in one of the toughest divisions in all of college football.”
“But as far as running a program from top to bottom, bringing in top, you know, controlling the things you can control, right? There’s a lot of things you can’t control. But as far as controlling the things you can control, I don’t see anyone better for the job,” he said.
Windsor has hinted that he’ll explain more when more attention is on Penn State’s program. The first game of the season is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 31 at noon against West Virginia in Morgantown.
