Penn State Football: Players defend James Franklin, teammates amid allegations

Former Penn State football player Isaiah Humphries has filed a lawsuit accusing teammates of hazing during the 2018 season.

Almost more importantly, the allegations by Isaiah Humphries also stated that the coaching staff retaliated against him when he reported the hazing incidents.

The 46-page federal lawsuit was filed with the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania. In the lawsuit, it doesn’t specify an exact amount of financial reparations intended to be received by Humphries. The report claims James Franklin and defensive lineman Damion Barber as defendants, while Yetur Gross-Matos, Micah Parsons and Jesse Luketa are also named as being involved.

Some of the accusations made by Humphries were graphic in nature. He claims a former teammate said to him, “I’m going to Sandusky you.”

While I refuse to explicitly state my certain opinion until facts are released, I think this claim by Humphries seems a bit too far-fetched knowing his past relationships with specific teammates.

A direct message exchange to a Penn State fan from Humphries was released and went viral after the report of the lawsuit became public. In the conversation, Humphries stated, “We don’t want Micah anyway,” in response to the fan asking if Parsons was going to choose Ohio State over Penn State during his time of recruitment.

Also, Humphries’ lawyer is the same one who defended former team doctor Scott Lynch when he filed a lawsuit against Franklin and the university.

Many fans believe the lawyer, as well as Humphries, has a personal grudge against coach Franklin and the program in general, and that both allegations are false. We will see with time, but current and former Penn State players certainly agree with the fans:

https://twitter.com/CjHo1mes/status/1217211451015946244?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1217211451015946244&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.centredaily.com%2Fsports%2Fcollege%2Fpenn-state-university%2Fpsu-football%2Farticle239294273.html

https://twitter.com/_TR4__/status/1217184323801112582?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1217184323801112582&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.centredaily.com%2Fsports%2Fcollege%2Fpenn-state-university%2Fpsu-football%2Farticle239294273.html

https://twitter.com/Goony_38/status/1217183835143712772?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1217183835143712772&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.centredaily.com%2Fsports%2Fcollege%2Fpenn-state-university%2Fpsu-football%2Farticle239294273.html

Whether you think the allegations from Humphries are true or false, I think it’s important that as a fanbase we don’t jump to conclusions. It’s important to wait and see what is proved to be factual or not before jumping on Humphries. We all remember the last horror that happened by blindly defending the Penn State program.