Penn State would love to have one of its top tight ends back sooner rather than later.
Fans got an encouraging sign Wednesday when media saw Khalil Dinkins, who was inactive for Saturday’s 34-12 season-opening win at West Virginia during its viewing window.
Khalil Dinkins (16) back at practice after missing the last few sessions and being inactive against West Virginia pic.twitter.com/LUwELHbLei
— Lyle Alenstein (@LAlenstein) September 4, 2024
Naturally, Coach James Franklin was asked about Dinkins’ availability during his post-practice media scrum, and equally naturally, he couldn’t— or wouldn’t— confirm whether Dinkins would be good to go Saturday for the team’s home opener against Bowling Green.
“Yes, we are (optimistic,)” Franklin said. “But to your point, there’s still the issue.
So what’s the issue.
“He’s missed a ton of time both mentally and physically,” Franklin said. “So we have to knock the rust off and we’ll see. If he’s ready, then, as you guys have seen, he can be a weapon for us.”
As with any player on the offense, a lot of Dinkins’ success will depend on new coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. Kotelnicki knows how to coach tight ends, as evidence by the fact that he interviews for Penn State’s vacant tight end coaching position before the 2021 season. Even with former OC Mike Yurcich, Penn State was known for using two-tight end sets, and there’s no reason to think that will change. The question is whether Dinkins will be able to fend off second-year tight ends Rappleyea and Schlaffer, as well as former five-star Luke Reynolds, for the second tight end position.
“But if he’s not physically ready or mentally ready,” Franklin said, “then we feel like we have some guys, like you’ve seen with Luke (Reynolds) and others, Joey (Schlaffer) and some other guys that we think can fill that role. Ideally, we’d love to have them back, so specifically with Luke, we can save some of those games. But we’re going to do what we have to do this week to play and play well.”
