A former Penn State football player has hinted that he’ll reveal information in light of the lawsuit brought forth by a former team doctor.
Tuesday afternoon, Roberto Windsor, who played defensive tackle at Penn State for coach James Franklin from 2016-19, published a video to X and Instagram in which he mentioned the lawsuit, and said he’d post more than one video telling his story.
Coming soon pic.twitter.com/VAH1GJrgY5
— Robert Windsor (@RobertWindsor54) August 6, 2024
This past May, a Dauphin County jury ruled in favor of a former Penn State football Dr. who, in 2019, claimed Franklin got in the way of his and the medical staff’s decision-making.
As a result, Dr. Scott Lynch — who made these claims after his firing — was awarded $5.25 million.
Additionally, PennLive reported that the jury decided on the $5 million based on the amount of punitive damages and the remaining $250,000 in compensatory damages.
“The Penn State lawsuit, I haven’t talked about that lately,” Windsor said. “Last time I did, I said I’ll post something in the end of July about it. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Windsor said he feels it’s “better to wait until there’s more attention on Penn State football.”
“It’s a really big deal,” he said. “Some really bad things happened to a lot of athletes, including myself, and you know, the Big Ten and the NCAA was supposed to take action. We proved in the court of law that these things happened.”
Windsor said his goal is to “spread awareness among fans.
“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.”
It’s not clear yet specifically what Windsor is referring to.
Throughout his four seasons, he never missed extended time due to injury and played in all but one game— the 2019 Citrus Bowl in which he was suspended for violating team rules.
After college, Windsor went to the Indianapolis Colts in the sixth round and spent two seasons with the team, playing in two games.
In early 2022, he announced his retirement from football, citing health issues. He came back to football in 2023, joining the Vegas Vipers of the startup XFL. He spent the 2023 season and Vegas and played with the D.C. Defenders in 2024, but wasn’t on the roster after the UFL dispersal draft in January.
Even without the full context of Windsor’s story out yet, his comments seem to be a far cry from what he’s said about Franklin and the program in the past.
“Coach Franklin is the guy; there’s no question about it,” Windsor said told Adam Breneman of “State Media” last November. “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.”
Two other former Penn State players, Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley— each former teammates of Windsor— testified during the trial on behalf of Franklin and the program.
Penn State started fall camp at the end of July and will play its first game against West Virginia in Morgantown on Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff.”
