Penn State interim coach Terry Smith gave an update on one of PSU’s top defensive players, who was ruled out for Saturday’s game against Indiana.
Penn State fans were surprised to see Chaz Coleman’s name on the Big Ten’s mandatory injury report ahead of PSU’s clash with No. 2 IU at Beaver Stadium Saturday afternoon.
Two days later, Smith was asked about Coleman’s status at his weekly press conference, confirming that Coleman missed Saturday’s game because of an injury.
Going forward, Smith said Coleman is “day to day” and that the team hopes to have him back for Saturday’s game against Michigan State.
Coleman is a true freshman who arrived at Penn State over the summer.
Almost immediately, he started turning heads, which led to the coaching staff making him one of two freshmen (Daryus Dixson being the other) to reach “green light status,” meaning that Penn State would play him right away without fear of burning his redshirt.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Coleman played no fewer than 17 snaps in each of Penn State’s first five Big Ten games, but only played 12 combined in the team’s losses to Northwestern and Iowa per Pro Football Focus.
Against Ohio State, he played 15 snaps and made the most of them, ending with three pressures, two QB hits, one hurry and a fumble recovery.
“Chaz is an extreme talent,” Smith said after the Ohio State game. “Sometimes in Big Ten play, these guys are big, they’re horses up front. When we played Iowa, they were big-bodied, and we felt the matchup wasn’t in his favor. We felt like today, the matchup was in his favor. He’s gonna be a major part of what we do going forward, and he’s a point of emphasis for us to get going.”
Coleman is a player Penn State would love to keep going forward into whatever the post-James Franklin era ends up bringing.
