Penn State versus Minnesota - Injury Report
Penn State will look to bounce back this Saturday after a blowout loss to Michigan last weekend.
Despite the loss, the Nittany Lions are still in solid shape in terms of health but there are some key names who are a bit banged up.
The Gophers meanwhile come in much more injury bitten with some critical players still being question marks for this game.
Here is who could be in or out for both teams in Happy Valley.
Penn State
Penn State has kept its roster relatively healthy this year but now has a couple of injuries that might make a difference moving forward.
A concerning one could be starting left guard Landon Tengwall who could not go against Michigan after suffering a pregame injury.
James Franklin said the injury is not season-ending but he currently does not have an update on whether or not he will be ready this Saturday.
Meanwhile, questions surrounding Sean Clifford have come up after he was reportedly dealing with an injury that kept him out of the fourth quarter in last week’s loss. Notably, Clifford was present at Wednesday evening's practice.
Again, Franklin said this isn’t a long term injury but he would not discuss his availability or commit to a starting quarterback this weekend but said that when healthy “Sean has earned the right” to be out there.”
Wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith was able to suit up against Michigan after leaving in the win against Northwestern with an apparent foot injury but played very limited snaps and did not catch a pass.
Minnesota
Minnesota comes into this game with a lot of injury questions on the offensive side of the ball that could definitely become a factor in the game this weekend.
The first is to their veteran quarterback Tanner Morgan, who was carted off the field last Saturday after taking a hard hit to the head.
P.J. Fleck says that the team hasn’t ruled Morgan out of the matchup with the Nittany Lions yet but if he can’t go it will be between junior Cole Kramer or sophomore Athan Kaliakmanis to take over as the starter.
Kramer, though, has also been dealing with injury problems himself and may not be ready depending on how he practices this week.
The Gophers do add some depth back to its running back room as freshman Zach Evans dressed for the first time this year and No. 1 back Mo Ibrahim is back from an ankle injury.
But, running back Trey Potts was held out last week for undisclosed reasons but could return this weekend. Potts suffered a serious season-ending injury last year and made a long road to come back so Fleck and his staff are likely to be cautious in this case.
Aside from that, the Gophers are without wide receiver Chris Autman-Bell who suffered a season-ending injury in a game against Colorado last month.