Penn State’s James Franklin explains Joey Porter Jr.’s injury, expects CB to return this season

Good news, Penn State fans: Joey Porter Jr. is expected to play again this season.

Porter, the Nittany Lions’ star cornerback, missed last week’s game against Maryland with appendicitis, coach James Franklin confirmed Tuesday.

Franklin typically doesn’t divulge injury specifics unless they’re season-ending. However, Franklin, who acknowledged after the 30-0 win over the Terrapins that Porter was out with a non-football injury, said he was alerted to “misreporting” over the All-Big Ten player’s health and wanted to set the record straight publicly.

When asked later if Porter would be available to return to the field for the Nittany Lions this season, Franklin said: “We’re expecting him back.”

That’s a big boost for the secondary as Porter, a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe and Bednarik awards, has lived up to his preseason first-round NFL draft projections.

The North Allegheny graduate was targeted 14 times in the opener at Purdue and tied a Big Ten record with six pass breakups. Since then, he’s been taking receivers out of the game. Porter has been targeted only 14 times over his past eight games, allowing seven receptions for 57 yards, according to Pro Football Focus.

Franklin said Porter “gets a ton of credit and deserves that” for his play this season. But teams deciding to look away from Porter have opened opportunities for other Penn State defensive backs to shine.

Kalen King has emerged as one of the best cover corners in college football; the sophomore’s 87.8 PFF coverage grade ranks sixth in the country among those with at least 100 snaps. King’s 13 pass breakups rank first in the Big Ten and are tied for second nationally, according to CFBstats.com. Meanwhile, Johnny Dixon — who started in Porter’s place against Maryland — has eight pass breakups on the year.

Without Porter, the Nittany Lions limited Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa to 11 completions on 22 attempts for 74 yards and zero touchdowns.

“We didn’t change our scheme or how we played on Saturday,” Franklin said after shouting out King and Dixon, as well as Marquis Wilson, Daequan Hardy and true freshmen Cam Miller and Cristian Driver. “Obviously, we’re excited and hoping to get Joey back as soon as possible. But we were able to execute our defense at a very high level on Saturday against a really good team.”

Next up? Rutgers, then Michigan State. We’ll wait and see if Porter returns this weekend or next.