When James Franklin logged into a Zoom call for his routine post-practice press conference on November 11, it was immediately clear something was off.
“Like always, I appreciate you guys being on here and covering Penn State football. I do have something I wanna give you guys an update on,” Franklin said to open the availability. “Through internal testing and second opinions, Journey Brown will no longer be able to play football.”
Those were the words that officially ended running back Journey Brown’s football career. After a routine coronavirus test, doctors discovered Brown has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick. It would require him to be sidelined from competition for the rest of his life.