A veteran player left Penn State football late Wednesday morning, and hours later, interim coach Terry Smith was asked if he anticipates there being any more to follow.
It’s certainly been an uncertain time for Penn State, with James Franklin gone and nobody knowing who the next coach will be.
Joey Schlaffer left the program after nearly three seasons, planning to enter the transfer portal when it opens.
It’d be fair to wonder if he’d be the only one.
With all that said, Smith doesn’t anticipate anybody else leaving before the end of the year.
WHAT TERRY SAID
“Joey made a decision to leave. We respect that. I don’t anticipate anyone else leaving. The morale has been really good. At the end of the day, we’re going to play with who is here and our roster is still here. There guys are excited to play a great Indiana team this weekend and they’re preparing to go play hard for Saturday.”
Penn State will certainly have players leave after the season. We don’t yet know who, but any program that’s going through such a dramatic change in this era of college football is going to lose some players.
Smith was asked about this in his Monday presser.
“Yeah, they’re very difficult,” Smith said. “Reality is, no one knows who is going to be here. When the next head coach is hired that person could wipe the whole building out.”
“We just try to stay grounded, keep our feet on the ground, and be professionals. The young men in the locker room, they deserve that. They’re showing up to work every single day, so us as coaches and as a staff, we have to give our 110 percent to these guys.”
“That’s what we’re going to continue to do, and the focus is on trying to beat Indiana this week.”
GOING BOWLING?
Smith was also asked Monday if Penn State would accept a bowl invitation, which is a fair question given this season has fallen well short of expectations.
“We’re trying to win this week,” Smith said. “As we continue to win, why wouldn’t we want to play football? This is what we signed up to do,” Smith said. “We want to take advantage of every opportunity in front of us.
“We clearly will talk with the players as well. My feeling — based on how they’re performing right now — if we win enough games to get to bowl eligibility, I think they would play. They haven’t laid down yet.”
Penn State hosts No. 2 Indiana this weekend. Kickoff is scheduled for noon on Fox.
