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Penn State

Promising Penn State defensive piece suffers long-term injury

nate-mug-10.12.14by: Nate Bauer06/05/25NateBauerBWI
Max Granville Penn State Football On3
Penn State defensive end Max Granville lines up for the White Team during the 2025 Blue-White Game. (Photo: Ryan Snyder/BWI)

Penn State will be without one of its most promising young defenders for an extended period. Max Granville, the Nittany Lions’ redshirt freshman defensive end, sustained an unspecified injury setback that is expected to be long-term in nature.

Granville entered the 2025 offseason expected to be a significant component of the Nittany Lions’ rotation at defensive end. He played 52 defensive snaps last season over seven games, three in the regular season and another four during the Nittany Lions’ Big Ten Championship game and three College Football Playoff games.

The burst proved to be an immediate contribution after reclassifying to the Class of 2024 days ahead of the start of the program’s preseason practices in July. Over the course of those appearances, he made one tackle and was credited with a quarterback hurry and one pass breakup.

Capturing Penn State football’s attention

Accordingly, he caught the attention of head coach James Franklin, defensive assistants and players throughout the Penn State program.

“He was a guy that flashed as a true freshman. We went back and forth on whether we were going to burn his shirt or not,” said Franklin. “He’s gotten bigger and stronger. He’s put on really good weight. It’s really important to him. He works extremely hard at it.”

This spring, that attention developed further as Granville transformed his eye-catching athleticism into a more well-rounded football repertoire. One of the first-hand recipients of that development, Penn State left tackle Drew Shelton pointed to the changes that had already taken place in less than a year on campus.

“He was really just quick back then and now he’s added a lot of size. He’s getting to be able to use a lot of different moves now, do a lot of different things, and that’s going to help him as a pass rusher, not just being one dimensional,” said Shelton. “He’s got a really good work ethic, so no matter what his deficiencies might be right now, they won’t always be that way. And he’s just going to continue to work to get better, not only for himself, but for this team too.”

Next steps

Now, the Nittany Lions will need to proceed into the 2025 campaign absent Granville’s contributions. Already dealing with the offseason departures of Amin Vanover and No. 3 overall pick Abdul Carter in the NFL Draft, plus the spring exit of flex defensive lineman Smith Vilbert, Penn State will have to further adjust.

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