Penn State Football TE Pat Freiermuth OUT vs. Iowa

Penn State will be without star tight end Pat Freiermuth for Saturday’s game against Iowa.

Junior tight end Pat Freiermuth will be unavailable for the first time in his career, Saturday against Iowa.
Freiermuth became the starter half through his freshman year, as Penn State initially struggled to replace Mike Gesicki in 2018 before Freiermuth’s emergence.

Freiermuth, who holds the touchdown record for tight ends at Penn State, has 23 catches for 310 yards and one touchdown on the season.

This is a big blow to a struggling Penn State offense that cannot find an identity at quarterback. Without one of the top pass catching tight ends in the nation, that problem becomes even larger.

A first round projected pick, Freiermuth actually had the option to declare for the draft after his sophomore year, thanks to a fifth year of high school, but he decided to come back to Penn State. It is unfortunate to see someone who decided to come back suffer an injury that could hurt their draft stock.

It’s unclear what Freiermuth’s injury is or how severe it is. He was shaken up during the game against Ohio State, but started and played in the two games following.

The silver lining is that Penn State will be able to give more reps to young tight ends, Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson, who are seen as the future of the position for the Nittany Lions. Redshirt sophomore Zack Kuntz should also see more playing time. With the team 0-4, going young isn’t the worst thing at this point, although everyone would like to see arguably the best tight end in program history out there.

Freiermuth is the third Nittany Lions offensive star to be sidelined this season. Running back Journey Brown was forced to retire from football before the season due to a heart condition, and Brown’s backup, Noah Cain, suffered a season-ending leg injury just five plays into the season.