Blue White Illustrated

Injuries are an inevitable part of foot- ball, but even taking into account the game's high attrition rate, Penn State is having an unusually costly year. In the months before the 2018 season began, four Nittany Lion players were forced to give up the sport permanently for health reasons. Ryan Buchholz was the most promi- nent of those players, a projected starter at defensive end before announcing in August that he had made the difficult decision to end his football career due to persistent pain. The Lions also lost quarterback Jake Zembiec and two members of their 2019 recruiting class: cornerback Jordan Miner and offensive lineman Nana Asiedu. Buchholz said via Twitter in August that he had "been through years of deal- ing with extreme pain" stemming from back surgeries. A former four-star prospect from Malvern, Pa., he said that the problems began in high school and left him unable to reach his full potential at the college level. In the end, he de- cided that he didn't want to risk his long-term health in order to play two more seasons of college football. "You only have one body, and my health and future well-being are most important to me," he tweeted. "Unfortunately, some things don't last forever and I am just very thankful for everyone who has helped and sup- ported me throughout my career." Buchholz had played in 10 games and started six for the Nit- tany Lions as a redshirt sophomore last season. James Franklin said the coaching staff had known for a while that the 6- foot-6, 275-pounder had been strug- gling to overcome his back problems. "He's been a very productive player and a great teammate," the coach said, "but it's not like this just kind of came out of nowhere. It's not like it was a shock for us. We knew it had been a challenge for the last couple of years." Zembiec likewise had been dealing with injuries, including a shoulder prob- lem that had originally flared up during his high school career at Aquinas Insti- tute in Rochester, N.Y. Despite the in- jury, he threw for more than 3,000 yards and led Aquinas to a Class AA state championship as a senior. But he did not see game action at Penn State in 2017 after redshirting as a true freshman the year before. Franklin said Buchholz and Zembiec had been "class acts in every aspect of our program and both had tremendous futures in front of them – and they still have tremendous futures in front of them. It's just going to be different now, you know? They're still going to be very involved with the program." "Sometimes guys have long-term [in- juries] that they're dealing with," he continued. "Some of them come in with them from high school and just never are able to get over them. So it's challeng- ing. It's challenging for them, it's challenging for their parents, it's challenging for us as a staff in terms of managing the roster and depth and those types of things." Miner was a four-star de- fensive back out of Wesley Chapel, Fla. He had been a four-year starter at Wire- grass Ranch High, but his playing career ended this past summer when he was diagnosed with a heart condition. "I had to work super hard to get in this I'd like to see us pick up Florida or USF. USF here in Tampa would be huge for our recruiting, as we are going after Hillsborough and Pasco County prospects. psuken Vanderbilt: Coach could renew some old acquaintances. bohucon Alabama or Clemson: Let's go up against the best. faraway1 Texas: We could further expand our recruiting ties by being visible in this talent-rich state! PSU Man Pitt, every year! BlueBand I do believe there is a big difference in how season-ticket holders feel about scheduling than the general fan who isn't shelling out a grand or more per year on tickets. I, for one, want the maximum bang for my buck, especially since I make the six- plus-hour round trip each weekend. I prefer one fewer home game every other season if it means that I'm get- ting higher-quality out-of-confer- ence games every other year. I do not believe that our future national championship hopes will he pegged on beating a Football Championship Subdivision team vs. losing to a top- notch Power Five school. I also may be naive to think that if we need that FCS win to gain bowl eligibility, then we don't deserve to be in a bowl game anyway. With that said, I do agree there are some regional rivals that we should consider playing, and more than one per season would be fine by me, including West Virginia, Boston College, Virginia Tech and Syra- cuse. n1tlion Rutgers: Let's get them out of the Big Ten first, and then we can beat them in our out-of-conference schedule. Two birds, one stone. Cudman RYAN BUCHHOLZ F O O T B A L L Injuries take bite out of Lions' roster Steve Manuel

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