A Penn State defender is dealing with an injury setback that could keep him sidelined for a stretch.
LaVar Arrington said during an appearance on Fox Sports Radio that his son, LaVar II, “had a little setback” and “had to get his knee cleaned up.” Penn State HC Matt Campbell had not brought up Arrington during training camp, and there is no clear timeline yet for when he might return.
Arrington is heading into his second season with the Nittany Lions and has already made a position switch, moving to defensive end after beginning his career at linebacker. As a true freshman in 2025, he played in seven games, mostly contributing on special teams.
He also drew praise from the Penn State staff for the way he worked in practice, picking up a pair of Developmental Squad Player of the Week honors. Over the summer, Campbell called him a “huge part of our football team” in an exclusive interview with Nittany Sports Now, and he offered a fuller assessment of Arrington’s upside in the spring.
“I think what I love about LaVar, you know, I got to watch, I don’t know, four or five bowl practices, and you got to watch his reps, and then you’ll watch him in his special teams reps last year,” Campbell said when asked Tuesday about Arrington’s offseason progress and his weight.
“You watch him run down on kickoff, and some of the plays he makes, he’s explosive and he’s dynamic. His first couple steps are, you know, what I would say are, like, ‘wow’ moments.”
In Other News...
Penn State Reopens A Painful Joe Paterno Debate
Penn States decision to expand its All-Sports Museum inside Beaver Stadium is already stirring familiar emotions around the program. The new Paterno Family Football Experience Room will include an exhibit on Joe Paterno, and athletic director Pat Kraft said the space is meant to preserve and present the history of Penn State football, a history that still carries enormous weight for the school and its supporters.
Even so, the announcement has reopened a painful debate that never quite fades on this campus. For some fans, any new nod to Paterno inevitably brings back the universitys ties to the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, making the move feel less like a museum addition and more like a test of how Penn State chooses to frame its past. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Just Reignited Its Most Divisive Football Legacy Debate
A new permanent Joe Paterno exhibit has opened at the Penn State All-Sports Museum, giving visitors a closer look at one of the most influential and polarizing figures in the schools football history. The display includes items from Paternos office, awards and a timeline of his career, underscoring how deeply his name remains woven into the identity of the program decades after his peak years on the sideline.
The exhibits framing is what makes it impossible to ignore, especially for a fan base that has spent years wrestling with how to remember that era. It does not mention the child sexual abuse charges against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky or Paternos handling of the situation, and that choice is already shaping the conversation around the museum addition. Penn State coach Matt Campbell noted the importance of the programs history, but the question of how much of that history should be celebrated, and how much should be confronted, remains very much alive. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State May Be Headed For A Middleweight Shakeup
FloWrestlings latest rankings hint that Penn States middleweights could be in for a notable shuffle, with Mitchell Mesenbrink now listed as the No. 1 pound-for-pound wrestler at 174 pounds. That placement points to a possible move up from the weight class he had previously occupied at 165, and it would ripple through the lineup in a hurry, reshaping how the Nittany Lions might sort out some of their most important slots.
If Mesenbrink settles at 174, the dominoes could send Tyler Kasak to 157 and PJ Duke to 165, according to the rankings. There is also the separate possibility of Levi Haines re-entering the picture at 174 if he secures a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, leaving Penn State with a middleweight picture that is still very much in flux as the season approaches. [Read more 🡒]