Penn State is hopeful but uncertain if receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith will be available this weekend for the Nittany Lions’ clash against No. 5 Michigan in Ann Arbor according to coach James Franklin.
“We’re hopeful to have KeAndre for Saturday. We’ll see how this works out. Sometimes it’s challenging even if I wanted to answer the question on a Tuesday, because it’s still very early in the week,” Franklin said during his weekly press conference.
While Lambert-Smith is certainly Penn State’s most experienced third option at receiver on the roster, the Nittany Lions’ fairly fluid rotation at the position gives Penn State plenty of flexibility heading into this weekend’s contest. Prior to the bye week Franklin had noted that sophomore Trey Wallace III was likely the first receiver slated to fill Lambert-Smith’s shoes if he asked to do so.
Beyond this particular injury, Penn State enters the thick of the Big Ten schedule in relatively good shape on the health front with Lambert-Smith really the only injured player among primary depth chart options on either side of the ball. That’s good news for a Penn State team that battled injuries much of last season at a key juncture of the year. The Nittany Lions will certainly need to win the injury battle in the coming weeks with three marquee games in view that will decide the course of the rest of the season.
“Overall health, I think, knock on wood, we’re in a pretty good place,” Franklin added. LI think part of that is how we have managed practice. I think that is part of how our guys have done a really good job of taking care of their body. Hydration, nutrition, all those things have helped. As you know, we’ve had a bunch of discussions about nutrition as well, how that factors in. Then our ability and our willingness to play guys. The amount of reps that our two deep has gotten this year, it’s significant. There’s value in that. There’s value in those guys gaining experience to create depth, but there’s also value in getting your ones out, putting them in the best position to be as recovered and ready to go the following week.”
