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Penn State 'hopeful' to have Chop Robinson and Amin Vanover back against Michigan

Greg Pickelby: Greg Pickel11/06/23GregPickel
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Penn State defensive end Chop Robinson (44) reacts after sacking Massachusetts quarterback Taisun Phommachanh in the first half of a NCAA football game Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in State College, Pa. The Nittany Lions won, 63-0.

Penn State is “hopeful” to have defensive ends Chop Robinson and Amin Vanover back on Saturday for a top-10 matchup with Michigan at Beaver Stadium. The former missed the Indiana and Maryland games after being carted off with an undisclosed injury at Ohio State. The latter was also hurt against the Buckeyes. He, too, missed the last two games. Both traveled to last weekend’s 51-15 win over the Terrapins. But, neither played. Robinson was ruled out before warmups but went through them anyway. Vanover was questionable and also went through pregame drills but did not see the field.

“Well, first of all, I think it’s very telling, right, we talked about our depth, that we have two of our better defensive ends out of that game, in Chop and Amin, and then specifically, Chop maybe our most explosive defensive player, having him out of that game, and still be able to play the way we played,” head coach James Franklin said. “So the opportunity and the possibility to have both of those guys back this week will be significant.

“I thought being able to travel [Robinson] was big, not only from a rehab standpoint to get him with our trainers and doctors, but also from a morale standpoint. That was something we talked about in the locker room, of not just finding a way to get a win and playing well, but also playing for Chop with his inability to play last week. So we’re hopeful to have both of those guys back.”

Penn State defensive end depth will play a role against the Wolverines

Penn State will release an availability report at 10 a.m. Saturday before battling the Wolverines. We’ll find out more about the status of Robinson and Vanover then. But, last weekend’s win showed how the Lions can be successful without one or both of them in the lineup. Nine defensive lineman played and the Lions held Maryland to -49 rushing yards in the win.

“The depth has been huge,” Franklin said at Maryland. “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. Not having Amin [Vanover] 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-Michigan starts at Noon on Saturday. FOX will televise the contest.

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