James Franklin Provides Good News Regarding Three Penn State Starters

STATE COLLEGE | Penn State coach James Franklin confirmed a key injury Thursday during his media availability in State College but offered more positive health updates regarding three returning starters. The Penn State football coach also discussed a transfer linebacker who has made a strong first impression. Here's a look at what Franklin had to say during his session.

Three starters will return for training camp

Franklin discussed the long-term injury that defensive end Max Granville sustained at home in Texas during the team's off time. Granville's injury is significant at a position where Penn State returns one full-time starter in Dani Dennis-Sutton. However, Franklin had better news regarding starters Anthony Donkoh, Tony Rojas and Andrew Rappleyea

"We expect all three to be fully cleared," Franklin said. "Not just for camp, but really for the majority of the summer as well."

The news is critical on both sides of the ball for Penn State, as all three are returning starters. Rappleyea, a tight end, started just one game last season before getting injured before the Nittany Lions' home opener in September. Rappleyea recently posted footage of himself running routes during the offseason. Donkoh started 10 games at right tackle, his last in the Nittany Lions' win at Minnesota in November.

Rojas, meanwhile, started all 16 games last season at linebacker but played through an upper-body issue. He underwent a postseason procedure and did not participate in spring drills.

"I don't think all three of them right now are totally clear [medically]," Frankin said. "They would have some limitations right now. But if you came to a workout to watch, you wouldn't know. There are some modifications, either in the weight room or restrictions on the field, but all of them we anticipate being full go from day one of training camp."

Linebacker Amare Campbell makes a strong first impression

In discussing Amare Campbell's transfer from North Carolina, Franklin said first that he "hated" losing linebacker Ta'Mere Robinson to USC. Penn State expected Robinson to be a significant player on its defense this spring.

That said, the Nittany Lions quickly signed Amare Campbell from the transfer portal. Campbell made 76 tackles and 6.5 sacks for the Tar Heels as a sophomore last season. The 6-0, 230-pound linebacker also made 10.5 tackles for loss, broke up two passes and forced a fumble.

As Franklin said, Penn State targeted production when signing Campbell. The linebacker could slot right into the middle linebacker spot vacated by Kobe King, who left for the NFL.

"You're talking about production," Franklin said. "We've tried a few times where you get a guy who was maybe highly regarded but hasn't proven it yet at the college level, and I'm kind of out of that business. At the end of the day, if you're going to go into the transfer portal, you need to be going to the transfer portal for production, not projection."

Campbell came to Penn State with a strong recommendation from former North Carolina coach Mack Brown, a close friend of Franklin's. Rojas also vouched for Campbell, as the two knew each other from their high school days in Virginia.

"All those things helped, and so far, so good," Franklin said. "Sometimes it's hard to kind of evaluate a linebacker without pads on. It's a little bit easier to evaluate a wide receiver or someone like that. So we'll see. But based on first impressions, it's been good."

Franklin discusses a very early enrollee

Defensive end Daniel Jennings was the top-ranked player in West Virginia for the 2026 recruiting class, according to 247Sports, and committed to Penn State. But then he decided to graduate early and reclassify to the 2025 recruiting class. As a result, Jennings will arrive in time for the Nittany Lions' 2025 season.

It's too early to tell whether Jennings will have the same impact as Granville, who also reclassified, did last season. Still, Franklin was impressed with how professionally Jennings handled the process.

"I think for [Jennings and his family] it's like, what's more valuable? Playing a senior year or, worst-case scenario, redshirting at Penn State, although he's going to have the opportunity to come in and compete. I think they felt like, we're going to base this decision off a worst-case scenario, and him being here and being in our weight program and nutrition program and getting an extra year of school started ahead of time. I just think they felt the value of it.

"The other thing is, he's not like a 205-pound defensive end. We've taken some kids that were 205 pounds, and they had to grow into it. He's already over 250 pounds. So I think those things played a factor into it as well. But it wasn't us. It was something he wanted to do."