Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State injuries have trickle-down effect

Published Sep. 8, 2015 6:35 p.m. ET

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A rash of in-game injuries during Penn State's season-opening loss to Temple caused some snap personnel decisions to be made. 

As a result, freshmen Jake Cooper and Manny Bowen will not be redshirting this year. 

The Center Dailey Times reports Cooper was needed when Nyeem Wartman-White and his backup, Gary Wooten, were both injured against the Owels. While Wooten eventually returned and is slated to start against Buffalo this weekend, Wartman-White is out for the season. 

An injury to Brandon Bell, the starting SAM linebacker, necessitated the burning of the redshirt of Bowen, who split time with junior Von Walker. 

"I looked out on the field at one point, and we had (redshirt freshman Troy) Reeder as a redshirt freshman on the field, we had Cooper as a true freshman on the field, and we had Manny Bowen as a true freshman on the field," PSU head coach James Franklin told reporters during his Monday press conference. "Manny and Cooper didn't take any reps (in practice). They were on scout team. We weren't expecting to play them, and they went right from the scout team to us burning their redshirts and getting them on the field. So we had communications issues that we need to get cleaned out." 

Other true freshmen to make their Penn State debuts against Temple were receiver Brandon Polk, cornerback John Reid and running back Saquon Barkley. 

(H/T Center Dailey Times)

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