Breneman left off Penn State depth chart at tight end
Adam Breneman, the No. 1 high school tight end in the country when Penn State signed him, was not included on the Nittany Lions' first depth chart of the season, possibly due to a lingering knee issue.
When Penn State coach James Franklin released his first depth chart of the season for 2015 on Tuesday, the big news happened to be what player was left off the chart rather than who was included.
Adam Breneman, a redshirt sophomore who was the No. 1 high school tight end in the country before committing to Penn State for the freshman Class of 2013, was not one of the three players listed at his position.
Speaking at his first teleconference of the season, Franklin said he would not comment on whether Breneman was injured and to what degree.
"He had some issues in high school and some issues at Penn State," Franklin said. "We're supporting him academically, where he's killing it. He's also got some challenges to overcome on the football field. But that's Adam's business. That's Adam's family's business. We're here to support him as much as we can."
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound Breneman suffered a torn ACL and sat out his senior season of high school. He started five games for the Nittany Lions as a true freshman in 2013 and caught 15 passes, three for touchdowns. But he decided to undergo surgery last year because of lingering knee issues and took a redshirt season.
In his Penn State media day news conference last month on the opening day of training camp, Franklin said he felt Breneman "was in a much better place right now," suggesting he would be fine during camp.
"I think in the long run it's probably going to be a positive for him and a positive for our program," the coach said then. "It's a great situation to be in because now we're starting to put the pieces to the puzzle around (Christian) Hackenberg that his development can continue."
Sophomore Mike Gesicki was listed as the No. 1 tight end, followed by redshirt junior Brent Wilkerson and fifth-year senior Kyle Carter.
"I'd love to have four but we have three we feel pretty good about," Franklin said Tuesday. "We hope we can stay injury-free. No doubt we'd like to have Adam for this week. He's one of the more positive guys in the program and one of our more natural leaders."
--Joe Juliano