Penn State Football: Bowen No Longer With Team

Penn State linebacker Manny Bowen is no longer with the team the program confirmed on Monday afternoon. The Nittany Lions’ most updated roster sent to media members prior to this weekend’s season opener did not include Bowen.

“Manny Bowen is no longer on the Penn State football team. We wish him all the best.” A spokesperson said.

The news comes less than a month after Bowen was officially reinstated with the team after he was removed from the team near the end of last season. Bowen had missed multiple games each of the past two seasons, including both bowl games for a violation teams rules on two separate occasions.

According to James Franklin, Bowen was not slated to start in Week 1 regardless of how well he performed in practice. That aside, Franklin was confident that Bowen had earned his way back on the roster.

‘We created some stipulations for Manny to achieve, and if he lived up to his end of the bargain, then he’d have an opportunity to earn his way back,’ James Franklin said at Penn State football media day in early August.

‘Manny graduates in December, and we felt like this plan was going to give him the best opportunity to graduate in December. We didn’t make it easy on him.’

Bowen, played in nine games during the 2017-18 campaign racking up 51 tackles. The now senior linebacker missed the Rose Bowl at the conclusion of the 2016-17 season due to a violation of team rules and was once against suspended and eventually removed from the team for a similar offense late in 2017-18.

Penn State gave no indication why Bowen is no longer with the team.