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With his status for Saturday uncertain, Penn State RB Saquon Barkley practiced Wednesday

After suffering an injury in the San Diego State game, Penn State's star freshman running back Saquon Barkley was back on the practice field Wednesday.

    by Erin McCarthy
    Published 

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- With his ankle taped, Lions' electric freshman running back Saquon Barkley was back on the practice field outside the Lasch Building Wednesday evening. Barkley, who logged back-to-back 100-plus-yard-rushing performances last month, was injured in the San Diego State game two weeks ago, and did not play in Saturday's matchup with Army.

"Yeah he received reps at practice. He looked awesome," coach James Franklin said. "He's kind of still working through it. No determination [on whether he will play Saturday] has been made yet, but he did take reps at practice. He looked good."'

Every day at 7 a.m., Franklin said he meets with the trainers to go over the progress of injured players.

"A lot of it deals with when they practice today, how do they react? Do they go in and their body didn't react well to practice and the next day they've had a setback?" Franklin said. "You don't want to do too much when you come back, because then they're not able to do anything the next day. It's kind of a step-by-step process our trainers and doctors take us through."

“For me, the defining game is this Saturday. Yeah, this one this Saturday is big. Next week, that one will be big,” Franklin said. “That’s for [reporters]  to have those discussions about what’s defining and what’s not. I want to win Saturday - pretty, ugly, nasty, sexy, exciting, win. However way we got to do it.”