Penn State injury updates: What's the latest on Zion Tracy, Zuriah Fisher, before FIU?

Penn State cornerback Zion Tracy was the only player listed as questionable on the Lions’ first availability report of the season last weekend. The junior, who was expected to be the team’s starting nickel, went through warmups but ultimately did not play, as redshirt freshman Kenny Woseley Jr., started in his place. Head coach James Franklin was not asked about Tracy’s status after the win over Nevada or at his first news conference of FIU week on Monday. But, the New York native did come up on Wednesday night following practice.

“He’s ready to go,” Franklin said on Wednesday. “He’s practiced all week long, including Sunday. So, we’re anticipating him [being] ready to go.”

The head coach went on to praise Woseley Jr.,’s performance in the opener while reiterating, as expected, that the Lions are excited to have Tracy back in the mix. He made 35 tackles over 16 games (four starts) in 2024 in addition to two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown.

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Tracy is the second Penn State injury update this week

The first came back on Monday. Franklin said then that defensive end Zuriah Fisher, who was listed as out for the meeting with the Wolf Pack, was close to playing after dealing with bumps and bruises during summer camp. He, of course, missed all of last season due to injury.

“We were hopeful to have Zuriah,” Franklin said. “I will say this: We got to the game, and Zuriah was excited and wanted to play. We kind of held him, just because at that point, he hadn’t practiced enough. And, we didn’t think that was the right thing to do for him or us. But my point is that, I think that explains how close he is, right?

“He’s close to being back, and that’ll be significant getting him back.”

Speaking on Wednesday, Franklin said Fisher is a ‘go’ at the moment but will likely still be limited on Saturday. Penn State welcomes FIU to Beaver Stadium at Noon ET. The Big Ten Network is televising the game.

“Yeah, I would still think though, even in this game, even if he wants to [play], we’ll probably only play him a limited amount of reps,” Franklin said. “But right now, he’s a go.”

“There’ll be two significant guys [Fisher and Tracy] that we’ll get back. Veterans that have played a decent amount of football for us.”

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