Penn State’s Pat Freiermuth Out for the Season

Penn State tight end Pat Freiermuth will have season-ending shoulder surgery, ending an All-American career and adding another layer of disappointment to the team’s 2020 season.

Coach James Franklin said that Freiermuth, a returning All-American, will have shoulder surgery next week to repair an injury sustained against Ohio State. The injury also will end Freiermuth’s career at Penn State halfway through a season in which he didn’t have to play at all.

Franklin said that Freiermuth and his family made the decision this week to have surgery. The tight end will “remain with the team for the rest of the season,” Franklin said.

Penn State lost to Iowa 41-21 on Saturday, falling to 0-5 for the first time in program history.

The injury ended a season, and career, that included so much success The tight end caught his 16th touchdown pass of the season (a program record for tight ends) on the team’s first possession of the season. He clearly played through pain the past few weeks, including last week’s game against Nebraska, when he caught a 74-yard pass from Will Levis in the second half.

Earlier this month, after Penn State lost its first three games, Freiermuth said “it hasn’t crossed my mind to opt out,” adding that he would remain with the team “until I decide my time is up here.”

“That’s not my personality to just walk away when we’re down and the program’s down,” Freiermuth said earlier this month. “I’m going to get up and fight back and try to get us our first win this season and do anything I can to make this program go to the next step.”

Freiermuth finished his career with receptions in 29 consecutive games. He caught a pass in every game he played but his first.

“I’ve never seen a guy work harder than Pat,” said fellow tight end Brenton Strange, who scored his first career touchdown.

Added defensive end Shaka Toney, “Pat’s going to be OK. He’s not hanging his head. It’s a tough loss, but I love my brother. He’s going to be back.”

Further, Freiermuth has been among the program’s best ambassadors. He consistently recruits publicly on Penn State’s behalf, and his parents are presidents of the program’s parents organization.

In October, before the season resumed, Freirermuth sounded as eager to play as anyone. Particularly for Penn State.

“It’s important to me because I made a commitment,” Freiermuth said then. “I said that I would come here, get my degree and play as long as I could. Obviously, I could have left [after the 2019 season] and maybe I could have been a potential Day 2 draft pick. But at the end of the day, I’m very happy with my decision to stay. And I mean, I still owe so much more to this community than it owes me.”