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<p>Saquon Barkley sat patiently as an athletic trainer heavily wrapped his right ankle during the second quarter on Saturday. Penn State coach James Franklin briefly walked over to check on the electric freshman running back, and Barkley delivered a thumbs-up.</p><p>Barkley, of course, never went back into the game, spending the second half lightly jogging on the sideline and waiting to see if he was needed.</p><p>But by all appearances, the injury wasn&#8217;t serious. And considering that the Nittany Lions had several prominent players go down in the past week, the news across the board isn&#8217;t as dire as it looked over the weekend.</p><p>Though he kept to his policy about not getting into specifics, Franklin said Tuesday that none of the injuries suffered against San Diego State were season-ending.</p><p>The Lions are in wait-and-see mode with Barkley and fellow running back Akeel Lynch, but Franklin said he expected that both starting safeties, Jordan Lucas and Marcus Allen, would be available to play Saturday against Army at Beaver Stadium.</p><p>&#8220;This early in the week, even if I wanted to, there&#8217;s not a whole lot I could tell you,&#8221; Franklin said at his weekly press conference. &#8220;We didn&#8217;t know about Jordan Lucas last week until basically Saturday morning. From everything I know at this point, none of them are season-ending injuries. Anticipate getting them all back, whether it&#8217;s this week or next week. We&#8217;ll see. We&#8217;ll see how the week goes, how they heal.&#8221;</p><p>Both Lucas and Allen were dealing with apparent arm or shoulder injuries. Lucas did not suit up for the first time in his Penn State career last week. Allen started but came out almost immediately on the game&#8217;s opening drive before heading to the locker room and returning in street clothes and a sling. Second-team defensive end Evan Schwan also exited and did not return.</p><p>Lynch appeared to be in the worst shape, as the junior starter was getting his left knee looked at and needed the help of two people to get off the field, a la tackle Andrew Nelson two weeks ago. Nelson has not played since and has been sporting a bulky brace on his knee.</p><p>Franklin has insinuated that Nelson is also in a week-to-week situation, unlike linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White, who will miss the season because of his knee injury.</p><p>For now, however, it&#8217;s the situation in the backfield that&#8217;s under the microscope. With the bulk of the Big Ten schedule still a week away, the coaching staff must decide how much work to give the walking wounded.</p><p>Regardless, redshirt freshmen Mark Allen and Nick Scott figure to get carries again with Lynch likely out and Barkley perhaps not 100 percent.</p><p>&#8220;Obviously they were behind those other two guys on the depth chart for a reason,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;But that doesn&#8217;t mean we don&#8217;t also have tremendous faith and belief in them that they&#8217;re going to have an opportunity to do good things for us.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll see how the week goes, we&#8217;ll see who&#8217;s available for the game on Saturday. But it&#8217;s next man up. Those guys have an opportunity and I know they&#8217;re excited about it.&#8221;</p><p>Another option could be a third redshirt freshman back in Johnathan Thomas. Though he impressed coaches last fall with his bruising style, Thomas has battled injuries since high school and had again been working with the scout team this year before being moved up this week.</p><p>&#8220;He practiced well on Sunday,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;Didn&#8217;t practice well on the scout team, and depending on how things play out this week with those other two guys, he could factor in on Saturday. We&#8217;ll just see how the whole week goes.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Army QB hurting</strong></p><p>Likewise, the Black Knights are dealing with a notable ankle injury as starting quarterback and leading rusher Ahmad Bradshaw did not play in the second half of last week&#8217;s win over Eastern Michigan.</p><p>His status for this weekend remains up in the air.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re hopeful he&#8217;ll be healthy and be able to play this Saturday,&#8221; Army coach Jeff Monken said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. &#8220;Right now we don&#8217;t know. He didn&#8217;t play the second half. Had we been able to play him, we would. We have a great training staff, going to take great care of him and have him as close as he can be to be ready.&#8221;</p><p>The Knights do have a senior backup in A.J. Schurr, but Bradshaw is clearly the more dangerous athlete in their triple option scheme, rushing for 341 yards and four touchdowns this season.</p><p>&#8220;(Bradshaw) wouldn&#8217;t have to be 100 percent to play this week,&#8221; Monken told the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, New York. &#8220;We are not going to play him if he can&#8217;t protect himself. If he can run and be effective, there&#8217;s a chance he&#8217;ll likely play.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State coach James Franklin (right) said Tuesday that injuries to several players, including running back Akeel Lynch (22), are not season-ending. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_lynch-hurt.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State coach James Franklin (right) said Tuesday that injuries to several players, including running back Akeel Lynch (22), are not season-ending. </caption0><photoCredit0>Chris Dunn | AP photo, York Daily Record </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>UP NEXT</strong></p><p>Army at Penn State</p><p>Noon, Saturday, ESPNU</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Injured Lions on the road to recovery