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James Franklin saved his best deadpan delivery for this one.
Asked if linebacker Ben Kline, a candidate for a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, was as smart as he seemed, the Penn State coach couldn’t help himself.
“No, he’s not really that sharp,” Franklin said. “He’s beating the system. He’s found a way to fool everybody.”
Uh huh.
For his part, Kline is modest about his accomplishments off the field, which include leading Penn State’s chapter of the Uplifting Athletes charity.
The senior’s plans for the near future include going to graduate school and “at some point, wind up working with economic policy.”
But for now, the York County native still has a few games left with the Nittany Lions. That he’s able to suit up and get on the field comes as a blessing to him after struggling through injury after injury for the past three years.
Multiple shoulder surgeries. A torn pectoral. A torn Achilles. And those are just the major ones.
It was enough to make him consider, however briefly, walking away from the game.
“I think anybody goes through that,” Kline said. “But just leaning on my teammates helped me get through that.”
In all, he spent nearly 23 months watching from the sidelines before returning last Saturday against Army.
Heading into this week’s game against Indiana, he’s running as the second-team middle linebacker behind Jason Cabinda.
“I don’t take for granted any opportunities to be out there with my teammates,” Kline said. “It was fun to be out there with them and get back playing on the field and play a good game.”
Kline appeared on only a few series against the Black Knights and did not record a tackle as the coaches ease him back into action.
“I think mentally he’s there,” Franklin said. “What he’s been doing really for the last, I don’t know how many months, is getting his body back to the point where his mind is telling him what to do and his body can do it.”
Though the body still has plenty of rust to knock off, the mind is working just fine.
On top of his Rhodes Scholar bid, Kline is also a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy — sometimes referred to as the Academic Heisman — that his former teammate, John Urschel, won two years ago.
“I think he’s a great example of a young man who takes an opportunity to come to Penn State and maximizes it,” Franklin said. “Now, has he been limited in terms of injuries, in terms of the impact he’s been able to make on the field? Yeah, through injuries and things like that.
“But it hasn’t affected the type of impact he’s had on our team in terms of leadership and being a role model. Very, very well-respected on our team.”
Backing Hack
A popular narrative is that Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg isn’t the best fit for the system that Franklin and offensive coordinator John Donovan would prefer to run. The thought is that they would be more comfortable utilizing a mobile quarterback as opposed to a pure pocket passer like Hackenberg.
“I think that’s a bit overblown,” quarterbacks coach Ricky Rahne said Thursday. “It’s a multiple offense and there’s lot of different types of quarterback that can be successful. There’s been multiple types of guys that have succeeded in this offense. I think Christian’s skillset fits it well. It’s about accuracy, intelligence, decision-making and being athletic enough to make plays with your feet.
“I think Christian’s skillset fits a variety of offenses. He has a big arm, but he’s still athletic.”
Channel change
Saturday’s game between the Lions and the Hoosiers will air at noon on ESPN — not ESPN2 as originally announced.
The switch comes from the LSU-South Carolina game being moved from Columbia to Baton Rouge because of heavy flooding in South Carolina. That game was initially selected for the noon ESPN broadcast, but the change in venue pushed kickoff back to 3:30 p.m.
The network then chose to move Penn State-Indiana into that slot.
Illinois-Iowa will now air at noon on ESPN2 instead of ESPNU. LSU-South Carolina will still be shown on ESPN, bumping the 3:30 p.m. Minnesota-Purdue game to ESPNU.
