Chop Robinson injury galvanizes Penn State defense at Maryland

After giving up its highest point total of the season to Indiana last week, Penn State football bounced back in a big way on the defensive side of the ball against Maryland on Saturday. The Nittany Lions stopped the Terrapins offense in its tracks en route to a 51-15 victory in College Park. If you thought it looked like the Penn State defense was playing inspired football, you’d be right. After the win, James Franklin explained how star DE Chop Robinson, who has missed the last two games due to injury, motivated the unit to have one of its best performances of the season.

Chop Robinson travels despite being out against Maryland

We have not seen star Penn State DE Chop Robinson since he left the Ohio State game with an injury two weeks ago. While James Franklin has noted that Robinson is expected to return this season, his presence was sorely missed last week in an uncharacteristic performance by the Nittany Lions defense against Indiana.

It seemed unlikely all week that Robinson would play against Maryland, which was confirmed when the star defender was listed as out on the official injury report from Penn State football Saturday afternoon. 

However, some confusion arose when Robinson was seen going through pregame warmups in full uniform. While Robinson was never going to play against the Terrapins, the Nittany Lions did get a waiver for him to travel with the team. After the game, James Franklin explained why.

Penn State DE Chop Robinson, listed as inactive pregame, is in full uniform and stretching prior to kickoff pic.twitter.com/mXUvbt0sES

— Seth Engle (@bigsengtweets) November 4, 2023

“We traveled him from a rehab standpoint,” Franklin said. “There’s certain things, when you have certain injuries, that you got to do to work back and be able to get back on the field. So, being able to get him out, be able to run, and be able to get some movement stuff without any contact is part of his kind of protocol to come back. So that’s why we were able to do that.”

Robinson injury led to inspired performance for Penn State defense

If there was any game that Chop Robinson would have wanted to play in, you’d have to imagine it was this one. Saturday was expected to be a homecoming for Robinson, the Gaithersburg product who transferred to Penn State from Maryland after his freshman season.

After recording two sacks in last year’s contest in Beaver Stadium, there was a clamoring to see what the potential first-round NFL Draft pick would do in his old stomping grounds.

Luckily, Robinson’s teammates picked up the slack. The Penn State defense held Maryland to 15 points on just 234 total yards. Nittany Lion defenders found the Terrapins in the backfield 12 times, part of a stunning -49 total rushing yard day for Maryland. Penn State football also forced four Terrapin turnovers as well.

It was clear that the Nittany Lions were playing inspired football in Robinson’s absence. Multiple times, Penn State defenders were seen holding up four fingers on each hand, symbolizing Robinson’s No. 44. After the game, James Franklin explained how the defense was galvanized by its missing star EDGE rusher.

“Obviously, this is a big game for him,” Franklin said. “He had a huge game last year. Not having one of our most explosive players on defense and still being able to play the way we did tonight, those extra reps for Jameial Lyons were huge. And we wanted to play well, not only for Penn State, but also for Chop. We wanted him to understand that we were playing well for him.”

Will Penn State football get its star defender back soon?

Penn State’s defensive line depth has stepped up nicely in the absence of Chop Robinson and Amin Vanover, who also exited the Ohio State game with an injury. Still, with the biggest game of the season in six days, the Nittany Lions could use both back on the field sooner rather than later.

While he wasn’t willing to give out timelines, Franklin was optimistic to see both Robinson and Vanover back soon.

“As you guys know, coming into the season, I felt like it’s the best depth we’ve had, really since we’ve been here,” Franklin said of his defensive line. “Not having Amin or Chop now for two weeks, that’s been big. So hopefully, we’ll have both of those guys back, and now you got a Jameial Lyons who’s played and gained confidence from that. So that’ll be really big.”

Penn State football takes on No. 3 Michigan in Beaver Stadium Saturday at noon.

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