Penn State will suspend defensive tackle Fred Hansard for the first half of Saturday’s game against Michigan following a sideline incident during the Nittany Lions’ 31-14 win at Maryland, coach James Franklin said on Tuesday.
According to Franklin, the Big Ten did reach out to the program to see how it was going to handle the situation internally and apparently will not pursue any further action.
The moment in question came in the second half of last Saturday’s game as Hansard pushed Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa to the ground after Tagovailoa ran out of bounds. Hansard was standing on the sideline during the play and extended his arms, clearly pushing the Maryland quarterback to the ground. Tagovalioa would leave the game for one snap as per NCAA rules, but returned the following play and was otherwise fine following the incident.
“Yeah, I guess the first thing I’d say is I didn’t know about it until after the game,” Franklin said on Tuesday. “I was not aware at all, and then I saw the clip, and obviously, the optics of it don’t look great.
“But I do want to say this,” Franklin continued. “Fred Hansard’s been here for four years. He has been a model citizen and a model student-athlete. He’s a super impressive young man that’s going to go on and do great things, got a great mom and dad. So just like in his statement that he put out, I know the optics of it don’t look great, but I don’t think Fred had any intentions. I don’t think he had any intentions to do anything to hurt another player or anything like that. I think it was a reaction. But at the end of the day, it’s not a good look, right?”
Hansard himself took to Twitter on Monday night to offer an apology to both Tagovailoa and Penn State offensive lineman Rasheed Walker who also wears No. 53 and was ostensibly misidentified as the culprit online.
“I would like to extend my sincere apologies for the unfortunate incident that took place on the sideline on Saturday,” Hansard said on Twitter. “It was truly an act of impulse, and not malice. I did not and would not intentionally try to hurt another player. I believe in the integrity and the rules of the game. My actions were not in line with the expectations we have for ourselves as a Penn State Football program. Please accept my apology for any unsportsmanlike behavior.”
So far this year Hansard has appeared in five games at defensive tackle but has yet to record any statistics. Over the course of his career he has racked up 23 tackles and one sack.
“Fred’s been a class act since he got here, but I also understand when something like that happens and it doesn’t look good, there needs to be a reaction,” Franklin said. “But I hope everybody understands that’s not who Fred Hansard is. I want everybody to remember the four years and all the great things that he’s done both on and off the field and as a student-athlete.”
