Long-term injury to promising young tight end presents huge opportunity to five-star freshman

Even behind star senior Tyler Warren, Penn State has a stable of talented young tight ends. Now, one of the offense's most loaded position groups will be significantly thinner after head coach James Franklin revealed on Tuesday that sophomore tight end Andrew Rappleyea has suffered a long-term injury. 

Rappleyea played 24 snaps in the season opener at West Virginia and though he didn’t catch a pass, he was used as a run blocked on 18 of those snaps while Penn State averaged 5.3 yards per carry. Then, Rappleyea didn’t play in Penn State’s 34-27 Week 2 win over Bowling Green in the team’s home opener. 

While James Franklin declined to address the specific severity of the injury in his Tuesday media availability, he did say, “That’s a long-term injury” and added that it was a “very recent” development. 

In Week 2, redshirt junior Khalil Dinkins saw his first reps of the season, playing eight snaps and catching one pass for seven yards, but Dinkins likely won’t get the largest share of Rappleyea’s opportunities. Instead, Penn State and OC Andy Kotelnicki appear ready to trust true freshman Luke Reynolds with a bigger role. 

The 2024 five-star recruit played 21 snaps against Bowling Green, 12 as a run blocker and nine on passing plays. Reynold has yet to be targeted, but that doesn’t mean he won’t become a significant part of the passing game going forward. So far through two games, only three Penn State wide receivers have caught passes from Drew Allar.

Tight ends and running backs are crucial to the functionality of Kotelnicki’s system, especially with the program’s lack of talent at wide receiver. In his true freshman season, Reynolds is listed at 6-foot-4 and 248 pounds, which gives Franklin faith in his ability to survive Big Ten football. 

“Luke is a guy that we have a ton of confidence in, not only physically, but just how’s he approached things since he stepped on campus as a true freshman,” Franklin told reporters post-game on Saturday after Reynolds saw additional opportunities without Rappleyea on the field. 

Rappleyea only played 31 snaps as a true freshman in 2023 with Warren, Theo Johnson, and Dinkins all staying healthy. However, he entered 2024 as TE2 in Kotelnicki’s offense and now that responsibility will be divvied up between Reynolds and Dinkins. 

Harrison Wallace III, Allar’s favorite target on the outside, has dealt with injuries throughout his past three years in Happy Valley, so there are justifiable concerns that if he goes down Penn State’s passing game will grind to a halt. Well, Wallace has a clean bill of health heading into the team’s first bye week, but if injuries like Rappleyea’s pile up on the periphery of the aerial attack, it could have the same effect. 

Now, Reynolds has to prove that at the tight end position, that’s not going to be the case.