Penn State coach James Franklin comments on injured Lions Kaytron Allen, JB Nelson
Evanston, Ill. — Penn State had a mostly healthy first five weeks of the 2023 college football season. However, two Nittany Lions left Saturday’s win over Northwestern and never returned to the field.
Starting guard JB Nelson was carted off the field during the break between the first and second quarters. A quick look at the game tape indicated no obvious injury. But, the second-year Nittany Lion never rejoined his teammates on the sideline.
As for Allen, the sophomore was banged up in the second quarter after rushing six times for 27 yards. He left the field and went to the injury tent. Later, he went to the locker room early before halftime. He did come onto the field for the second half but never had his helmet and did not re-enter the game despite standing on the sideline with his teammates.
“Yeah, so JB is back in with us,” Franklin said. “And Katron, I’m not sure. I haven’t aven’t gotten the full medical report.”
Defensive end Chop Robinson also limped off in the fourth quarter. But, he never visited the sideline injury tent.
Penn State players pick up the pieces for missing teammates
Vega Ioane stepped in to replace Nelson. Nicholas Singleton led the Penn State ground game with 21 carries for 80 yards and also caught and ran for a touchdown. With Allen out, first-year Lion Trey Potts saw his role expand. He scored a touchdown and finished with three carries for 21 yards and a 30-yard scoring reception.
“I think Trey Potts is a great example,” Franklin said. “Transfers in here as a senior. Didn’t get a whole lot of reps and a whole lot of burn the first couple of games and just kept a great attitude and kept working. And, when he got opportunities, he maximized them. So, it’s great to see him be able to come in and know that we feel like we got three backs that we can win with in this league. But yeah, I’ll know more, but I don’t have those details right now, as you can imagine.”
Penn State will now focus on getting healthy during its bye week.
“Going into the bye week, we got some bumps and bruises in this game and in general,” Franklin said. “So this bye week will be important for us. It’s not an off week. It’s a bye week. We got to use this week to get better in the short term with our program and then the long term for recruiting.”
