New Eagles running back Saquon Barkley fields questions at his introductory news conference. Next week, he could be on the witness stand in Dauphin County Court. Chris Franklin _ NJ Advance Media
Two big-name Penn State stars will take the stand next week in fired football doctor Scott Lynch’s wrongful termination trail.
But Eagles running back Saquon Barkley and free agent QB Trace McSorley will not be appearing for Lynch, who was ousted as orthopedic consultant to the football team and medical director for Penn State Athletics in March 2019.
Instead, the pair are being called by the defense to talk about their respective college football injuries and how they were handled by Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin.
“Saquon and Trace just want to speak their truth,” defense attorney Sarah Bouchard told Dauphin County Court Judge Andrew Dowling. “This directly impacts them.”
After taking the issue under advisement over lunch, Dowling returned after recess and approved both players to take the witness stand.
Lynch claims his ouster followed repeated clashes with Franklin over player injuries after the head coach took over in 2014. Lynch claims he was terminated from his dual roles because he refused to “allow a coach to interfere with his medical treatment and return to play decisions.”
Lynch says he reported Franklin’s interference to Penn State Athletics and Penn State Health, including his immediate supervisor there, Dr. Kevin Black, who’s also being sued by Lynch. He is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages in the case.
The defense suggests the two players have a different story to tell.
MORE: At Penn State, football coaches called the shots on team doctors, supervisor says
Bouchard said one of the players would appear at the trial in person, while the other plans to testify via video conferencing. She wouldn’t elaborate further, saying it would be a “surprise.” Both appearances would take place Tuesday.
QB Trace McSorley is an NFL free agent. Next week, he could be on the witness stand in Dauphin County Court.
Lynch’s attorneys argued against allowing the players to take the stand, questioning the relevancy of their testimony.
The groundwork for the players’ appearances at the trial was laid by previous testimony for Lynch about the handling of various players with injuries. In this testimony, the players were not identified by name – only by their injury, in some cases their position and the month and year their injuries occurred.
In Barkley’s case, it was a high ankle sprain in October 2015. In the previous testimony, Franklin was described as pressuring the football medical and training staff to return Barkley, the star running back, to the field despite the injury.
With McSorley, the case was a foot injury the quarterback suffered during the Citrus Bowl in 2019. In previous testimony it was said the team’s training and medical staff cleared McSorley to return to the game but left the ultimate decision up to him.
McSorley did return, and Coach Franklin was described in testimony as holding him out to the rest of the team, as if advocating that players should play hurt.
Lynch’s attorneys are seeking to confine the players’ testimony to a discussion of their injuries – provided Dowling permits them to take the stand at all. However, the defense would like the two stars to also testify about the culture and atmosphere under Coach Franklin.
NOTE: This story was updated to reflect that Judge Dowling approved both players to take the witness stand in the trial.
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