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Penn State dealing with absences of assistant coaches as program wrestles with false-positives
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James Franklin and the Nittany Lions have wrestled with a number of issues to start the season, and he revealed that the team has been without two assistants this week as the team prepares to face Iowa.
During his post-practice media session, Franklin indicated Penn State had to be without two assistant coaches for a couple of days this week due to false-positive tests for COVID-19:
Franklin said that the Nittany Lions didn't have Terry Smith for two days this week and Brent Pry today due to false positive test results.
That puts the Nittany Lions at 43 false positives this year.
— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) November 19, 2020
Brent Pry is Penn State’s defensive coordinator while Terry Smith is the cornerback’s coach.
It still looks as if Smith and Pry will be available for the game this weekend against Iowa. What is tough to figure out is the high number of false-positives Penn State has dealt with this season.
The Nittany Lions defense will need them there too as Iowa’s offense has been lethal the last couple of weeks. Iowa lit up Michigan State 49-7 two weeks ago and then this past Friday, they whooped Minnesota 35-7.
Playing during the pandemic was always going to present certain challenges, and false-positives were going to be a part of those challenges. However, 43 sounds like an especially high number without knowing the results from other teams in the conference.
Kickoff for this game will be at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.