Penn State will be without a key defensive player for the rest of the season.
Sean Fitz of Blue White Illustrated reported Tuesday evening that second-year linebacker Alex Tatsch will miss the rest of the year with an injury.
Before that, Penn State play-by-play man Steve Jones said on his radio show that Tatsch would be out for the year.
This is an unfortunate continuation of what’s been a star-crossed career for Tatsch injury-wise.
As Penn State was preparing for its Pinstripe Bowl matchup against Clemson in December, Tatsch suffered an injury that caused him to miss that game and lingered into the offseason, to the point where he was out for this year’s season opener against Marshall.
Tatsch returned for the Week 2 matchup against Temple and played the next four games before suffering an injury during practice that turned out to be a season ender.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Coach Matt Campbell addressed Tatsch’s injury situation during his weekly Tuesday presser hours before the news broke.
“Alex’s situation is tough,” he said. “You know, he got injured in practice. We still don’t know exactly where that is or how long that’s going to be. Hopefully, we’ll know a little bit more this week, and I think you guys all know what Alex means to that linebacker room.”
Tatsch isn’t the only young linebacker who has been unlucky with injuries. His 2025 classmate, Cam Smith, played the season opener against Marshall and hasn’t played since. The good news is that Campbell told reporters Tuesday that Smith is trending to be back soon.
Penn State takes on Michigan in the Big House at 3:30 Saturday on CBS.
