Blue White Illustrated

Cabinda's injury, while worrisome, re- sulted in a relatively painless shift: Senior Nyeem Wartman-White moved to the middle, where he had played earlier in his career, while Bowen filled in at weakside linebacker. But Cabinda's loss turned out to be just the first of many problems. Be- fore the end of the first half against the Panthers, Brandon Bell, too, had gone down with an unspecified but plainly se- rious injury. Tended to by team doctors and Franklin for what appeared to be a leg injury, Bell exited the team buses the fol- lowing week against Temple in a sweat- suit and on crutches. In Bell's place, true sophomore Jake Cooper filled the role of Sam linebacker the following week against Temple, while Wartman-White and Bowen held down their positions from the previous game. Wartman-White finished with a team- high nine tackles against the Panthers, including three tackles for loss, demon- strating his growing comfort level at the position following a 2015 season in which he tore his ACL in the first game. One of the team's most inspirational players, Wartman-White saw his feel- good comeback quickly take a terrible turn. Hustling to secure a block for John Reid on a first-quarter punt return against the Owls, the senior linebacker fell to the turf as his knee buckled. With his teammates kneeling in prayer by his side, Wartman-White eventually lifted himself up from the grass, but when he returned to the sideline in the second half, he was on crutches. Three days later, Franklin confirmed that the worst-case scenario had come true: Wartman-White was out for the season. "I feel terrible for Nyeem," Franklin said. "He's worked really, really hard and has had an unbelievable attitude. Obvi- ously, we're here to support Nyeem every step of the way." Before the second half of the third game of the season, the Nittany Lions had lost a combined 63 games of starting experi- ence at linebacker for an extended period of time. It was a catastrophic turn of events for a group that could barely afford a single injury, let alone three significant ones to its starters. In his news conference following Penn State's 49-10 loss to Michigan, Franklin appeared stunned. The Lions had been forced to take on the fourth-ranked Wolverines without Cabinda, Bell and Wartman-White, and in the first quarter, they lost another starter. Tagged by offi- cials for targeting – a penalty and subse- quent ejection that the Big Ten later admitted were based on a misinterpreta- tion of the rule – Smith disappeared quickly after making the first start of his career. And shortly after he left the game, his replacement, fellow walk-on and in- frequent contributor Jan Johnson, also got hurt, suffering a season-ending knee injury. "I don't know if I've ever been through something like this or seen anything like this," Franklin said. "We've got Bell, Wartman and Cabinda out. Brandon Smith gets thrown out on a targeting call. Then Jan Johnson comes in and we lose Jan Johnson for the season, as well. Our linebacker situation – I don't know if I've ever seen anything like it." For defensive coordinator Brent Pry, it was an unmitigated disaster, in part be- cause the manpower shortage at line- backer wasn't the only problem he was trying to fix. The Lions' injury list also in- cluded defensive end Evan Schwan, cor- nerback Grant Haley and safety Malik Golden. With so many key players on the sideline for at least one game, Pry and his assistants were left to simply make the best of an awful situation. And in the view of Franklin, they did that in the first half of the season. Still, heading into the game against Ohio State, the Nittany Lion defense was nowhere near its statistical benchmarks of the past few seasons. Penn State surrendered 42 points to Pitt, the most in the 97-game history between the two teams. At mid- season, the Lions were allowing 403.8 yards of offense per game to rank 67th nationally. And they were giving up a whopping average of 216.6 yards per game on the ground, a figure that in- cluded the game against Michigan in which the Wolverines were able to rush for 326 yards. Explaining that the defense would have no choice but to scramble, creating a sim- plified game plan to put its young, inex- perienced players in the best position to perform well, Franklin said he's been pleased with the results. With few re- maining options, he put a positive spin on the circumstance, noting that the early playing time that Bowen and Brown re- ceived would yield long-term benefits. "The adversity that those guys have faced this year is unreal. Seven lineback- ers we have lost for significant time this year," Franklin said. "So I'm really, really proud. I'm really proud of Brent. I'm re- ally proud of the defense. Manny is doing a nice job. He's got great instincts but needs to learn how to play Mike line- backer and command the defense. You look at Cam Brown, a true freshman, and he's doing a really nice job for us. Koa [Farmer] is making the change to line- backer full-time. Those guys have done a nice job for us." Franklin's policy is to avoid talking about injuries unless they are season- ending. He rarely entertains questions about diagnoses and timelines. But prior to Penn State's game against Maryland, he acknowledged that the injury situation wasn't expected to improve until the Ohio State game at the earliest. Having already thrust Smith, Cooper and Bowen into far more prominent roles than any- one expected before the start of the sea- son, Franklin had little choice but to make light of an otherwise demoralizing cir- cumstance. Welcoming the return of Saeed Black- nall to the lineup following a four-week injury absence, Franklin told reporters at his weekly news conference that the jun- ior wideout might be in line for a position change: "Based on his size and strength," Franklin said, "he may play Mike line- backer." Met by laughter, the third-year coach smiled. "Sometimes I say jokes and you guys don't get it," he said. Even in a sea- son marked by staggeringly bad luck on the injury front, it didn't seem very real- istic to think that the Lions would switch one of their key offensive playmakers to defense, and it still doesn't. Not yet, anyway. ■

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