Penn State's hurting at linebacker

Call it bad luck, a trend or some mysterious readjustment in the solar system. It's difficult to explain how Penn State could lose so many linebackers to injury this early in the season.

When the Nittany Lions host Minnesota on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, they still will be without the three linebackers who started the season opener against Kent State. Jason Cabinda was hurt in practice a few days later, Brandon Bell got knocked out of the Pitt game, and Nyeem Wartman-White crumpled to the turf with an injury against Temple.

Coach James Franklin does not comment on injuries but he did confirm on Sept. 20 that Wartman-White is out for the season. He said Tuesday that there was a "possibility" that Cabinda and Bell would return "sooner rather than later," but added Wednesday that "I don't think it's something imminent."

Third-string linebacker Jan Johnson, a redshirt freshman who walked on for football after spending time on Penn State's wrestling team last winter, also is out for the season after being injured last week against Michigan.

Johnson came in after Brandon Smith, who made his first career start Saturday at middle linebacker, was ejected for targeting. The Big Ten ruled Wednesday that the replay official "should have reversed" the decision to disqualify Smith.

The entire injury situation is puzzling to Franklin.

"In my 22 years of doing this, I've never been a part of a team that's lost all three of our starting linebackers," he said. "When you lose that many guys at one position, recruiting and development and depth is important but I don't know if you can ever handle three to four to five injuries at one position. I think it's a unique situation."

Franklin has had some bad luck there. Cabinda and Troy Reeder were the only two linebackers signed in his first recruiting class in 2014, and the pair finished first and fourth, respectively, on the team in tackles last season. But Reeder announced after the TaxSlayer Bowl that he was transferring to Delaware, where his father played and where his younger brother is a freshman.

Franklin's recruiting class of 2015 netted linebackers Jake Cooper (Archbishop Wood) and Manny Bowen, who both have been starting this season. But the third 'backer, Daiquan Kelly, was kicked off the team during training camp in 2015.

Of course, there were some recruiting battles that Franklin lost.

"Yeah, we missed on a couple of guys," he said. "There's no doubt about it. You could really say that at ever position. It's magnified now."

Only one linebacker came in Penn State's class of 2016 but he has shown potential. Cameron Brown, a 6-5, 215-pound weakside backer from Burtonsville, Md., saw his first significant action last week and made 10 tackles. The Lions' depth chart shows Brown likely to start Saturday's game.

"Cam went in and played and got people excited," Franklin said. "Cam showed a lot to work with and showed a lot of promise. He naturally has the ability to find the ball and make plays. We want to build on that and I think you'll see him continue to get better each week."

Brown is expected to start with Smith in the middle and Bowen on the strong side. Cooper will back up Brown and Smith. But Penn State has only three other linebackers on its roster - Koa Farmer, who was just moved back to linebacker from safety less than two weeks ago; Von Walker, who sees nearly all of his game action on special teams, and converted running back Johnathan Thomas.

Franklin said there are some players who could be moved to linebacker in an emergency but added, "You have to be careful because now you start taking away from one position too much, then that position is in a tough spot."

But no tougher than at linebacker.

jjuliano@phillynews.com

@joejulesinq