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By Neil Rudel
nrudel@altoonamirror.com
Injury updates aren't part of James Franklin's weekly disclosure with the media.
Unless a player is out for the year, Franklin doesn't discuss it. He feels it's a privacy matter to protect the player, and he also doesn't want to help the opposition's strategy.
In the last few weeks, Penn State has been missing numerous regulars, whose absence is generally tied to injuries but then again, we don't know for sure.
Those players include Olu Fashanu, Caeden Wallace, Keyvone Lee, Curtis Jacobs and Joey Porter.
Porter wasn't hurt in game action, and Franklin called his status "non-football specific," which, of course, led to speculation.
When Franklin didn't like how his disclosure was being interpreted, he clarified three days later that Porter had an appendicitis.
He added that he thought Porter would be able to return this season.
However, logic would suggest he won't be ready today at Rutgers (3:30, BTN) and next week's home finale vs. Michigan State is iffy as well.
A bowl game would be more likely.
That's if Porter would elect to play in a bowl game.
Porter and Fashanu, who hurt his ankle late in the Ohio State game on Oct. 29, are projected as first-round draft picks, maybe even top-15 picks.
Last year, seven Lions opted out of the Outback Bowl, and a couple of them weren't even drafted.
In addition to Fashanu and Porter, standout upperclassmen Brenton Strange and Juice Scruggs have decisions to make.
Franklin has said he's been meeting with players and their families concerning their futures as it's clear that roster building for 2023 can't wait until after the season.
Factor in NIL and the transfer portal, and it doesn't matter whether the Lions are playing Ohio State or Rutgers.
Franklin said this week he once had a rule that he wouldn't talk with parents about playing time during the season, but that's had to change because "If you're not talking to them, somebody else is."
Franklin traced his adjustment to: "When the rule got changed (in 2018), from an NCAA perspective, that agents could talk to players from the time they're a freshman. That's changed things because their phones are ringing off the hook constantly. Everybody has got an opinion. Ultimately, we just want our guys and their families to have great information."
Whether it's players who have their eyes on the NFL or are seeking another school, Franklin errs on the side of communication.
"We're having as many conversations now so there's no surprises," he said. "We would like everybody to be as transparent as possible -- in both directions so everybody can kind of be prepared."
Some of it happens on short notice. A player jumps into the portal in December, and the staff is scrambling to fill an opening.
Franklin said academic questions must be settled, too.
"Things move past," he said. "We've had some processes in place that have made it difficult at mid-semester, when most of these happen. The turnaround has to happen fast of getting guys in school. There needs to be a commitment from the top all the way down to do those types of things.
"To solve problems, where you have immediate holes you have to fill and also what could factor into it is how many guys you have going into the transfer (portal) has created challenges. It's both ends."
Freshmen can play four games before having to redshirt. Some of them get chances in the non-conference portion of the schedule.
"You want to play them early to see what they can do," Franklin said. "(But) I wish I had a couple of those games now from earlier in the year," adding the Lions lack a backup center, which has made Scruggs play more snaps than necessary in lopsided games.
"There are a lot of moving parts, lot of discussions, with the coaches, with the players, a lot of managing," he said.
During recruitment, players envision grandeur.
"Ninety percent of the kids we recruit - although I try to talk them out of that and see the big picture - every single one of them thinks they're going to be three years (and out)," Franklin said. "That's just not the normal path most guys take. If it works out, awesome. I try to sell them on maximizing the experience here, and when it's obvious to everybody, and the time comes, go."
And then there's the bottom line. In that regard, this November stretch of Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers and Michigan State should provide a comfort zone.
Repeat -- should.
"Ultimately," Franklin said about burning redshirts, "you're doing what you have to do and what you can to win the game this week while also being conscious of the player's future and the best interests of the program."
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.