Penn State football’s star tight end Pat Freiermuth will not play the rest of the 2020 season.

James Franklin announced after Saturday’s loss to Iowa that the star tight end will have season-ending surgery due to an injury suffered in the Ohio State game week two.

Freiermuth didn’t suit up for Saturday’s game, while Brenton Strange got the start against the Hawkeyes.

It’s not yet clear if Freiermuth will leave Penn State to prepare for the NFL Draft, but if he does, he will go down as one of the top tight ends in Penn State history. He’ll leave Happy Valley with 15 career touchdown catches. That ties Mike Gesicki for most scores by a tight end in program history.

The Merrimac, Massachusetts native burst onto the scene for the Nittany Lions as a freshman in 2018. He quickly became one of Trace McSorley’s favorite targets, as he hauled in 26 catches worth 368 yards and eight touchdowns. Freiermuth’s first score at Penn State came in week four during a trip to Illinois, and his Nittany Lion career exploded from there.

As a sophomore in 2019, Freiermuth only improved by catching 43 passes for 507 yards and seven touchdowns. He had extremely high expectations entering this 2020 campaign, as he was projected as a first-round pick in several NFL mock drafts.

Through four games in his junior season this fall, Freiermuth hauled in 23 catches for 310 yards and one score that came against Indiana week one.