For Penn State coach James Franklin, this camp has been “unusual” in one specific aspect.
Sure, every camp is different and thus “unusual” in some aspects.
But what makes this one different from the others is that, well, the injury report is shrinking as camp goes on rather than growing.
Franklin said at Local Media Day Saturday that this was probably going to happen.
WHAT FRANKLIN PREDICTED
Redshirt freshman tight end Andrew Rappleyea during pregame warmups.
Franklin said Saturday that the team’s injury report was looking “not great right now” but that there was a reason for that.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“What happened is, you’ve got a number of guys — we played late in the season, as everybody knows, the longest season in Penn State history — who played late into the season and we had some injuries that required some surgeries and things like that at the end of the season,” Franklin said. “They are going to be considered limited until we’ve had a padded practice to show that they are able to do that.
“So some of these guys are limited up there. They are ready to go and I think if you asked them, they could play in a game right now. But our trainers and doctors, you know, smart, we hold them in the limited category until they actually go out and do it. So if they had an upper body extremities issue, we’ve got to get through the first day of hitting to clear them back to full go. So the list is a little bit longer than I probably would like but nothing that we’re concerned about and nothing that you guys I think aren’t already aware of.”
THE UPDATE
Franklin was right: The injury report did indeed shrink.
“It’s just unusual,” he said. “Usually, you start and you’re in good shape and it grows. We’re going in the opposite direction. So, we’ve made so modifications to our practices, we do that every year based on Andrew Nelson, our sports scientist’s, recommendations, as well as “strength coach” Chuck Losey and the coaches. So I think that’s helped. We’re out here (practicing) a little bit shorter. Not much shorter, but we’re out here a little bit shorter. Reducing reps a little bit. Not much, not significant. But, yeah. So those guys just had to get cleared, and they’ve cleared. So we’re going in the opposite direction, which is good and unusual for camp. Knock on wood.”
Penn State opens the 2025 season against Nevada Aug. 30 at Beaver Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 on CBS.
