Linebacker Ben Kline tore his Achilles tendon Tuesday during a workout and will miss significant time, according to Lions247.

The rising redshirt junior recorded 18 tackles and two sacks in 2013, playing in only six games due to a shoulder injury that required surgery and ended his season in November. He started two games last season, and was expected to be a primary contributor in James Franklin’s linebacking corps this season. In his career, he’s got 36 tackles, recording another 18 in 2012 after playing in all 12 games.

Kline was probably going to be in the mix for a starting spot this season, so his departure might open up more playing time for rising sophomore Brandon Bell or rising redshirt sophomore Gary Wooten. Still, the linebacking corps is thin — most of it does not have much experience, and even Bell and Wooten only have a combined 30 tackles.

Off the field, he had a nice resume — Kline was an Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District selection this season, earning a 4.00 GPA in the spring 2013 semester (reading this piece he wrote for us after Bill O’Brien departed will show you why) and is president of Penn State’s Uplifting Athletes chapter.

This is the second piece of bad injury news this offseason. Offensive lineman Miles Dieffenbach went down with a torn ACL in March.