Penn State Football: Massaro Likely to Miss 2011 Season

Penn State defensive end Pete Massaro has suffered a serious knee injury in practice and will probably miss the 2011 football season, the university athletics office announced Monday afternoon.

The full text of the office’s announcement is posted below here and is available via GoPSUsports.com:

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 28, 2011 – Penn State defensive end Pete Massaro (Newtown Square) will likely miss the 2011 season after suffering a serious knee injury in practice.

A 2010 CoSIDA first-team Academic All-American, Massaro tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, according to Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, Penn State Director of Athletic Medicine. Massaro will have surgery within the next 2-3 weeks and rehabilitation will take approximately nine months, according to Sebastianelli.

A starter in the final 11 games last season, Massaro would have been a redshirt junior this fall. He missed the 2009 campaign after suffering a torn ACL in his right knee during the 2009 Blue-White Game. He took a redshirt season in 2008 as a true freshman.

The 6-4, 264-pound Massaro was fourth on the team with 8.0 tackles for loss (minus-32) last season. He made 37 hits (20 solo) with 3.5 sacks (minus-17), one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He made a career-high five tackles against Illinois and Ohio State and against Temple made three stops, with a sack, and forced and recovered a fumble. The former Marple Newtown High School all-state selection recorded his first career sack, for a loss of nine yards, at No. 1 Alabama.

One of the Big Ten Conference’s premier football student-athletes, Massaro brought a 3.82 cumulative grade point average in finance into the spring semester. The Dean’s List student also earned Academic All-Big Ten honors last fall.

Coach Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions are in the midst of spring practice, which culminates with Blue-White Weekend presented by AAA, April 15-17. The Blue-White Game is Saturday, April 16 at 2:00 p.m. in Beaver Stadium. There is no admission or parking fee for the always highly-anticipated contest.

The Nittany Lions return 41 letterwinners and 15 starters for the 2011 season (7 offense, 7 defense, 1 specialist), as well as 17 players that have starting experience. The 17 additional players with starting experience have a combined total of 86 starts (47 def./39 off.) among them.

Related coverage

• The StateCollege.com Penn State football page