Penn State football: James Franklin updates media on Nittany Lions’ complex injury situation

Penn State football remains undefeated on the season, but that doesn’t mean James Franklin and the Nittany Lions haven’t experienced their share of losses through four games.

The injury bug has hit Penn State hard in 2024. In addition to several notable offseason injuries, defensive standout KJ Winston and young offensive playmakers Peter Gonzalez and Andrew Rappleyea have all been sidelined long-term since the start of fall camp.

And now, another Nittany Lion has been added to the list. During his weekly press conference on Monday, James Franklin announced that freshman running back Cam Wallace will be sidelined with a long-term injury. Wallace went down in the fourth quarter of last week’s win over Kent State.

“I did want to follow back up with you guys on Cam Wallace,” Franklin said on Monday afternoon. It’ll be a long-term injury, so he will be out.”

From there, the situation is much more opaque. After exiting the Kent State game early and sitting out against Illinois, Franklin expressed optimism that starting linebacker Dom DeLuca will return to the lineup. The same can be said for starting offensive lineman Sal Wormley and cornerback Jalen Kimber, who were hurt in Saturday night’s game.

However, the timeline for all three is still unclear.

“We expect to have DeLuca, Wormley, and Kimber back,” said Franklin. “I don’t have a whole lot more information than that right now. Obviously, the game was Saturday. Sunday is a jog-through. Monday’s the off day. So, we expect those guys back. But I don’t have that information for you right now either.”

Franklin did not discuss the status of offensive lineman JB Nelson, who was also hurt Saturday night after replacing an injured Wormley.

James Franklin details communication process with injured Penn State football players

© Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With the number of Nittany Lions who have been sidelined early this season, James Franklin has dealt with countless questions from reporters regarding injuries throughout September. Given the program’s privacy policy regarding player health concerns, this has created a sometimes antagonistic relationship between the Penn State football coach and the media.

“Again, I understand you guys are going to ask these questions. I typically don’t have these answers for you,” Franklin said in his briefing last week. “I hate to see you waste a question, but I typically don’t have these answers for you guys in this press conference because, once again, we need time to evaluate the injuries, and we need time to have conversations with these kids and their families before I’m going to say something to you guys about it.”

On Monday, Franklin went into more detail regarding the timing of publicly disclosing player injuries.

“I kind of want to talk about this process a little bit. You know, I try to be very, very respectful of the student-athletes and, specifically, their health,” he said. “And sometimes you guys ask me, to be honest with you, I almost didn’t have the answer [about Wallace] today. It was going to have to wait until [Wednesday].

“Sometimes, as you can imagine, if it’s a long-term injury and they’re going to be out, it’s a significant injury. I don’t want my first conversation to be, ‘Can I talk to the media?’ You know, I would like to kind of support the kid for at least 24 to 48 hours and sometimes 72 hours. I don’t want my first conversation to be about answering [the] media’s questions. So I get that you guys need the information and you want the information, but that is why.

“Does that make sense? That’s why I’m not answering it right away. I want to be respectful of the kid and have a conversation with the kid, and I also don’t want that to be the first conversation I have with the kid, is about talking to the media? Does that make sense, everybody? So that answers that question for you guys.”

Penn State football will stay at home this week, hosting UCLA at noon on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff.

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