Penn State RB Journey Brown Unable To Continue Football Career

Penn State has seen a good run of quality rushers over the last few years.

First, it was Saquon Barkley. After Barkley left for the NFL, it was Miles Sanders who stepped into the top rushing role. That marriage only lasted one season, but fortunately for the Nittany Lions, they had Journey Brown ready to step up.

As a redshirt sophomore, Brown didn't see the same workload as the other two. But he was more efficient with his carries. In fact, Brown (6.9) had a better yards-per-carry average than Barkley or Sanders during their careers.

Unfortunately, Brown's career is coming to an end prematurely.

We had already known that some sort of medical issue had prevented Brown from taking part this season, but we now have confirmation that those issues will force the 5-foot-11, 217 pounder to retire early.

Penn State head coach James Franklin had more to say on the situation.

“Through internal testing and second opinions, Journey Brown will no longer be able to play football,” Franklin said, via Onward State. “It was discovered through a routine COVID-19 test, although it is not COVID related. We learned about this in early September, and we’ve been working through this and dealing with this as a team.

Journey’s one of the most popular and respected players on our team…The entire organization has rallied around Journey and his family. We need Nittany Nation to do the same.”

It's an unfortunate situation. Brown was an exciting player to watch, and like Barkley and Sanders, he looked like he had a future on the next level. He finishes his career with 1,077 total yards (934 rushing, 143 receiving) and 14 total touchdowns.

On Wednesday night, Brown released an official statement via his social media.

Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.