Penn State Football: Trio of Nittany Lions’ Status Unclear Heading Into Week 2

A trio of Nittany Lions who did not play and were not available against Wisconsin this past weekend may not be available this coming weekend against Ball State, according to coach James Franklin.

The players in question: safety Keaton Ellis, defensive tackle Hakeem Beamon and running back John Lovett. All three did not travel to the team this past weekend to Madison.

“They were not available last week, and that will be ‘to be determined’ this week,” Franklin said in his weekly press conference Tuesday afternoon.

The nature of their lack of availability was not disclosed.

Ellis, a State College native, had recently made the move to safety after his first two seasons on campus saw him at corner. He is generally expected to be part of the rotation at his new position behind starters Jaquan Brisker and Ji’Ayir Brown.

Beamon, a redshirt sophomore defensive tackle, showed flashes last season as he appeared in eight games making seven tackles, including 1.5 tackles for a loss.

Finally Lovett, a transfer running back from Baylor is using his fifth year of eligibility to play for the Nittany Lions following an additional year granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It remains to be seen where exactly Lovett fits into Penn State’s talented and deep running back room. Noah Cain had the majority of the snaps at running back this past weekend against Wisconsin with Devyn Ford and Keyvone Lee following far behind.