BREAKING: Penn State football shares injury report for Kent State matchup

We are approaching kickoff for Penn State football versus Kent State. But before we get to the game, the Big Ten has released the injury report ahead of today’s matchup. This week we learned more about Kevin Winston Jr and what James Franklin shared with the Penn State media. But which Nittany Lions will suit up for today’s game?

Penn State football is just a week away from entering conference play against Illinois. But before they get there, they must finish the nonconference schedule for the 2024 season. Leading up to kickoff, the Big Ten has released the injury report for the Nittany Lions for today’s game. The following players are out according to the availability report.

2 Kevin Winston Jr

14 Jaxon Smolik

30 Kari Jackson

32 Keon Wylie

36 Zuriah Fisher

42 Mason Robinson

80 Mehki Flowers

84 Peter Gonzalez

87 Andrew Rappleyea

88 Sam Siafa

90 Liam Andrews

94 De’Andre Cook

97 T.A. Cunningham

Franklin describes who will step up without  Winston

© Alex Disabella / Basic Blues Nation, 2024.

On Wednesday, James Franklin was asked about the status of Kevin Winston Jr. Franklin shared that the star defensive back is dealing with a ‘long-term’ injury. While Franklin did not indicate that it’s a season-ending injury, others must step up in Winston’s absence. One of those players is Dejuan Lane, who Franklin had high praise for.

“Dae-Dae Lane is the next guy that we’ve been trying to get reps for,” Franklin stated on Monday. “Obviously, when you are talking about Jay Reed and Zakee, those two guys played a ton of football for us and will need to continue. Dae-Dae is another guy that we’ve been trying to get more reps and more experience.

“That will be important, but we’re going to have to develop a few more guys. Especially, hopefully, we’ll see timing-wise how this whole thing will play out, but definitely, for the short-term, we’re going to have to develop some more guys.

“Dae-Dae is going to be really important this week and obviously moving forward as well. He’s a guy that we’ve been trying to get more involved. We had planned on playing him more last week [versus Bowling Green]. It didn’t play out that way, but he’s probably the guy that I would say our focus is on the most right now.”

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