Penn State announced Monday that the collegiate careers of two seniors, running back Zach Zwinak and safety Ryan Keiser, are over due to unspecified injuries.
Keiser, a co-captain on defense, started the first six games of the season at free safety before getting injured in the days leading up to the Nittany Lions’ matchup with Ohio State. PSU head coach James Franklin said after the game that “something kind of freaky happened in practice on Thursday” that kept Keiser out of the game.
In six games this season, Keiser, who started his career as a walk-on, registered 25 tackles and had the game-sealing interception for the Nittany Lions in the team’s Week 3 win over Rutgers.
Overall, the 6-foot-1, 208-pound Keiser appeared in 42 games and made 74 tackles in his Penn State career. After redshirting as a freshman in 2010, Keiser played in every game in 2011 and 2012 mainly on special teams. After earning a scholarship, Keiser then entered the mix in the secondary in 2013, starting five games, making 38 tackles and leading the team with three interceptions. Two of his three interceptions in 2013 clinched Penn State wins in games against Illinois and Wisconsin.
Zwinak, a 6-foot-1, 233-pound power back, went down on the opening kickoff Saturday night with a lower left leg injury. He finishes his career 15th on the school’s career rushing list with 2,108 yards and is also tied for 10th in school history with 11 career 100-yard rushing games.
Zwinak tore his ACL in his first year with the program, then saw limited action as a redshirt freshman in 2011. After barely playing in Penn State’s first three games in 2012, Zwinak burst onto the scene and racked up six 100-yard rushing performances en route to exactly 1,000 yards and six touchdowns for the season.
Zwinak added five more 100-yard rushing performances in 2013, finishing with 989 yards and 12 touchdowns. This season, playing behind a young offensive line, Zwinak ran for just 112 yards on 40 carries, but he did score three times.
With Keiser out, true freshman Marcus Allen made his first career start and played well, making 11 tackles. In Zwinak’s absence, Penn State will lean more on sophomore Akeel Lynch along with senior Bill Belton, the usual starter.
As noted in a release from Penn State, the Nittany Lions will suit up “a total of 46 recruited scholarship players” against Maryland Saturday afternoon. With Keiser and Zwinak done for the year, Penn State is down to six healthy scholarship seniors.
For more Penn State news, visit BlueWhiteIllustrated.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
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