UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Familiar faces and a new one made appearances on the Penn State practice field Wednesday.
Junior Jason Cabinda and senior Brandon Bell practiced with the linebackers after not playing since the opener and week two, respectively, with undisclosed injuries. And freshman Will Fries spent some time with the first team offensive line.
This is the first week of practice for Bell and Cabinda since their injuries, and coach James Franklin said that, after being off for about a month, he does not expect either to start at 8 p.m. Saturday at Beaver Stadium against No. 2 Ohio State or play anywhere near 65-70 plays. There are still a few days for the pair to improve ahead of game day, but Franklin said despite the fact that both practiced at a higher level than he expected, they were worn down by the end of the full practice.
Franklin said while Bell has been “chill” about his recovery and a calming effect on the team, Cabinda has been the opposite, eager for his return.
“Cabinda’s been, like, getting in fist fights with the doctors and the trainers for three weeks now to get back on the field, which I like,” Franklin said. “I’d rather that. I’d rather say, ‘Whoa’ than ‘Sic ‘em.’”
While Fries also had more reps in practice than in previous weeks, Franklin also tempered expectations about seeing the tackle in the game. Fries is listed as the backup at left tackle behind senior Paris Palmer and the third-string right tackle behind redshirt junior Brendan Mahon and redshirt sophomore Chasz Wright. The depth-chart changes came after right tackle Andrew Nelson had a season-ending injury against Maryland two weeks ago.
“Even though [Fries is] maybe second team on the depth chart, he would not be the second guy in,” Franklin said, adding Fries is probably the fourth in line after Mahon, Palmer and Wright.
But Franklin added that Fries came out of high school better prepared than the coach had anticipated, and that has helped the coaches be more comfortable with the idea of pulling Fries’ redshirt.
Former Nittany Lion retires
Running back Akeel Lynch, who played three seasons at Penn State before becoming a graduate transfer to Nevada this season, announced his retirement from the game on Twitter Wednesday. He attributed his decision to “having suffered two significant concussions in a short period of time.”
Lynch amassed 1,318 yards on 262 carries with seven touchdowns at Penn State but played only four of Nevada’s seven games so far this season, totaling 29 yards on eight carries. Penn State sophomore running back Saquon Barkley said Lynch was one of his mentors last season.
“I haven’t talked to him about it at all yet, but I did see that,” Barkley said Wednesday. “Akeel really … helped me out and helped me grow not only as a player but as a person, and it’s sad to see him hang it up. And it’s sad to see that concussions stopped him from playing football.”
Cothran v. Cothren
While the defensive line mostly rotates through a two-deep arrangement in games, listed atop the depth chart this week at the defensive tackle positions are redshirt juniors Curtis Cothran and Parker Cothren.
That’s a subtle spelling difference, but their teammates just don’t use last names altogether to avoid confusion.
“Parker, at first we called him Big Country because, you know, he’s from kind of country Alabama, a Southern kind of thing,” redshirt senior defensive end Evan Schwan said Wednesday. “And then actually, [redshirt junior defensive end] Garrett Sickels came up with a nickname for him. We call him Red Velvet just because he’s kind of a ginger, has orange-ish hair, reddish hair.”
And as for Cothran, well, Schwan said the defensive line keeps it simple.
“Curt is just kind of Curt.”
Megan Ryan: mryan@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1722 and Twitter @theothermegryan.
First Published: October 20, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
