‘I Love Hakeem’: James Franklin Addresses Penn State Defender No Longer With Program

Originally posted on Nittany Sports Now | By Joe Smeltzer | Last updated Nov 11, 2024 7:28 PM ET

A guy who had been Penn State football’s longest-tenured players is no longer with the team, and coach James Franklin addressed this for the first time in his weekly presser Monday.

Friday night, Blue-White Illustrated was the first to report that Hakeem Beamon was no longer with the Penn State football program. Nittany Sports Now later confirmed this.

It might not have been appropriate to ask Frankin about Beamon after Penn State’s 35-6 win over Washington Saturday night, and nobody did.

But the coach was asked about it Monday, and had nothing but good things to say about his now-former player.

WHAT FRANKLIN SAID

Penn State’s Hakeem Beamon.

“I love Hakeem. Love his mom, (known him) probably over seven years from the high school recruiting process. Ups and downs and twists and turns and smiles and tears and everything in between. Graduated from Penn State, very, very proud of that for him, and did a bunch of good things on the field, but he’s no longer a part of the team.”

HOW THIS IMPACTS PENN STATE

Zane Durant celebrates a second half tackle for loss.

Beamon, who had been with the program since 2019, was a regular in 2022, having started 12 of Penn State’s 13 games and played in all 13. Despite only starting half the games in 2023 that he did the previous season, Beamon finished the year with a solid amount of snaps at 339 per Pro Football Focus. He was on pace to finish well below that this season. Although Beamon played in each of Penn State’s first eight games, he only totaled 107 snaps. He played 23 against West Virginia in Week 1 and only hit 20 one other time, against UCLA Oct. 5.

Despite Beamon being among Penn State’s most experienced players, four defensive tackles had played more snaps at the time of his departure.

Led by Zane Durant, who has become one of the best in the country at his position, Penn State has an experienced group that, despite initial depth concerns from Franklin, has played well in 2024.

Sixth-year senior Dvon J-Thomas and fifth-year senior Coziah Izzard have played a lot of college football. Fellow veteran Alonzo Ford has proven to be reliable as well.

Penn State’s next game is at 1-8 Purdue at 3:30 on CBS

This article first appeared on Nittany Sports Now and was syndicated with permission.

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