James Franklin announced that one of Penn State’s veteran defensive linemen won’t be taking the field for the Nittany Lions in the 2022 season. Franklin shared the news when he met with reporters on Tuesday.

In Franklin’s words, Vilbert will not be available to play for the remaining games on the schedule.

Last week, Franklin said he was respecting Vilbert’s privacy by not detailing the availability issue (via On3):

“Just not available,” Franklin said. “I’d like to sit down with Smith and make sure that me and him are on the same page. Again, we talk all the time about whatever it may be, whether it’s injuries or whatever it may be: I don’t like to make announcements here publicly before we have spoken so we’re all on the same page.

“I got a ton of respect for all the players in our program, and I want to be respectful of their situations, whether it’s personal, whether it’s professional, whether it’s academic, whatever it may be. I want to be respectful of those things. And you know, I’m really proud that Smith Vilbert’s a part of our program. I’ll leave it at that for right now.”

Vilbert made 18 appearances over 3 seasons at Penn State. The last time Vilbert saw the field, he set a Penn State bowl record with 3 sacks in the Outback Bowl against Arkansas.