Zuriah Fisher injury update: What's the status of the Penn State defensive end before FIU?

Penn State defensive end Zuriah Fisher missed all of the 2024 season due to injury. He was back involved for spring practice this year, but then missed time again during preseason camp. Head coach James Franklin said before last week’s season opener with Nevada that the redshirt senior+ was dealing with bumps and bruises. He was then on the field before the Lions took on the Wolf Pack, and did some brief work with position coach Deion Barnes while wearing a big brace on his right leg. When the team’s availability report came out a short while later, however, Fisher was listed as out for the contest. But, as the on-field work indicated, he is not far from being ready to take the field, which is good news for a mostly young defensive line.

“We were hopeful to have Zuriah,” Franklin said on Monday. “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 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.”

With Fisher out, Penn State started redshirt freshman Jaylen Harvey and also played his classmate, Mylachi Williams, as well as true freshmen Chaz Coleman and Yvan Kemajou opposite starter Dani Dennis-Sutton.

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“We’re young,” Franklin said. “But these first three games are going to be critical in terms of getting these guys as many reps as we can. And then, continue to pour into them. I think once you kind of get into game four, game five, they’re no longer young players. They’re guys that played significant reps in college, and we need them to act like it. So what you need is both, right?

“You need a lot of these young guys to grow up and grow up quickly, but you also need some of these vets that were dependent on, hopefully they can get back into the rotation, specifically a defensive end that will help.”

All told, Fisher should be back in the lineup Saturday when the Lions take on FIU. Kickoff is at Noon ET. Big Ten Network will televise the game.