Some pretty somber news out of Happy Valley today as the second Nittany Lion has gone down with a serious injury. Yesterday it was Curtis Drake breaking his leg. Today, it's defensive end Pete Massaro injuring his knee. So far, the prognosis is not good.

Penn State defensive end Pete Massaro, arguably the team's best pass rusher, suffered a significant knee injry during a late-Friday workout, two sources close to the program told The Patriot-News on Friday.

The extent of the injury is still to be determined but Massaro could miss the 2011 season.

This is the second major injury of Massaro's career. In 2009 he sat out his entire redshirt freshman year with a torn ACL he suffered in the Blue-White game. Last year Massaro played in all 13 games and started the last 11. He recorded 37 tackles, 8 TFL, and 3.5 sacks in his redshirt freshman season. Massaro was easily the most effective defensive end Penn State had in getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Losing Massaro for the 2011 season is a huge blow to the defensive line. Jack Crawford and Eric Latimore will most likely be your starters now. Youngsters like C.J. Olaniyan, Kyle Baublitz, and Brad Bars will have to fill in the gaps. But this is a position where Penn State was already weak. They cannot afford any more injuries on the defensive line.