Tight end Adam Breneman left off Penn State depth chart

When he addressed the media at the start of Penn State's training camp last month, James Franklin sounded enthusiastic about having tight end Adam Breneman back after he sat out a year because of a knee injury.

"He was in a much better place right now," Franklin said of the former No. 1 high school tight end. "I think in the long run it's probably going to be a positive for him and a positive for our program."

The Nittany Lions' regular-season opener against Temple at Lincoln Financial Field is three days away, but the prognosis on Breneman, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound redshirt sophomore, is anything but positive.

Breneman's name was left off the Lions' first depth chart of 2015, which was released Tuesday morning. The first question at Franklin's teleconference with the media concerned Breneman, but the coach would not comment on whether he was injured or to what degree.

"Adam's a great guy," he said. "He's a great student, great family, was one of the most highly recruited players to come to Penn State. He had some issues in high school. He's had some issues since he's been at Penn State. But we're supporting Adam every step of the way.

"We're supporting him academically, where he's killing it, doing extremely well. He's got some challenges that he needs to overcome on the football field. We usually don't get into those types of things. I think it's Adam's business. That's Adam's family's business. We're just here to support him in every way we possibly can. So I hope we leave it at that."

Breneman suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and sat out his senior season at Cedar Cliff High School in Camp Hill, Pa. He started five games for the Nittany Lions as a freshman in 2013 and caught 15 passes, three for touchdowns. But the knee still bothered him and he decided to undergo surgery last year, taking a redshirt season to recover.

Coaches and teammates hoped Breneman could return this season, but it didn't go according to plan, and the player's return is uncertain.

"I'm not going to get into a whole lot of details about it," Franklin said. "As we all know, everybody kind of handles situations differently. Everybody's body reacts differently. So I'm not sure."

Sophomore Mike Gesicki was listed as the No. 1 tight end, followed by redshirt junior Brent Wilkerson and fifth-year senior Kyle Carter.

"I think you'd like to have four, but we do have three we feel pretty good about," Franklin said. "Hopefully, we stay injury-free and don't need to burn a redshirt or something like that. But there's no doubt that you'd love to have Adam available for this week and you'd love to have his playmaking abilities as well as his maturity. He's one of the more positive guys in our program, one of the better leaders."

Other than Breneman, there were no surprises on the Lions' first depth chart, which went two and three deep at every position except four deep at running back. Six true freshmen were listed, including second-team cornerback John Reid (St. Joseph's Prep) and third-team wide receiver Juwan Johnson (Glassboro).

Another freshman, Tommy Stevens, is the third-team quarterback behind Christian Hackenberg and Trace McSorley.

Franklin said he had dinner in Philadelphia with Temple coach Matt Rhule and Rhule's wife during a Penn State coaches' retreat in July. "He's a Penn State guy, he's from our community. I think he's done a great job there," he said of Rhule, who played four seasons for Joe Paterno. . . . The coach said the kicking competition was still tight, with redshirt freshman Joey Julius leading sophomore Tyler Davis "by a percentage point or two." He compared Julius' effectiveness on a 28-yard field goal vs. a 58-yard field goal: "His percentage of hitting and percentage of missing doesn't really change a whole lot."