Penn State has lost one of its receivers to a long-term injury.
Blue-White Illustrated first reported Tuesday evening that Josiah Brown would be out long-term.
Although it hasn’t been confirmed that Brown’s injury is season-ending, the fact that it happened days before Penn State’s opener suggests that he won’t play in 2025.
If that’s the case, Brown will be robbed of a chance to make his college football debut in 2025. Last season, Brown redshirted as a true freshman, and although he didn’t project to get a ton of playing time in 2025, he figured to have at least seen the field.
After committing to Penn State in June 2023, Brown went on to have a successful senior season at New York’s Malverne High School after transferring from Holy Trinity. That season was unfortunately cut short due to a knee injury Brown suffered in October— on the same night Penn State coach James Franklin came to see him play via helicopter. As a senior, Brown was an all-state performer. He ended the season with 589 total yards and eight touchdowns. Brown was also an all-state performer in track. He signed with Penn State as a four-star prospect.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Even though he’s another year older, it still would have been a suprise if Brown played a big role on this team. Penn State has completely revamped its receivers room, having signed Kyron Hudson (USC), Devonte Ross (Troy) and Trebor Pena (Syracuse) from the transfer portal. Penn State also has Brown’s classmate, Tyseer Denmark in the fold, and a talented 2025 class of receivers— Koby Howard, Matt Outten and Lyrick Samuel.
With that said, Brown did impress receivers coach Marques Hagans during camp.
“You gotta realize, last year he didn’t really play as much because he came from a high school (knee) injury,” Hagans said earlier this month via Lions247. “So now he’s really just getting in the fold of playing receiver for almost a full year now. And I think that he’s getting settled at the position. He’s always been fast and explosive, and I think now he’s starting to really settle in on just playing the position.
“He’s had a good camp so far. He’s playing fast, he’s competing, he’s making plays, and he’s physical as hell in the run game. So I think that’s another added dimension to his game and to our room. He’s got off to a good start so far this camp.”
