…Bowman’s back, tell a friend.

With the disappointing news coming out of Lasch yesterday that Sean Lee might be forced out of this week’s grudge match with Iowa with an ankle injury and a sprained knee (the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review lists his status as “doubtful” while the official prognosis from the team and the university is the not-so-helpful “day-to-day“), Penn State fans feared that the Nittany Lions would be without their top three linebackers for this week’s game, as Navorro Bowman nurses a groin injury that’s kept him out of the past two games and the better part of the season-opening win against Akron and Michael Mauti sits out the 2009 season with a torn ACL.  Well, Mauti’s ACL hasn’t healed, and Lee’s status is still up in the air, but at least one of the three will be on the field this Saturday as Penn State seeks revenge against the Iowa team that kept them from reaching the BCS Championship Game a year ago.

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, quoting Josh Hull, wrote today that Navorro Bowman is back in practice, and is expected to start at outside linebacker this Saturday.

“Navorro’s back in the lineup as of [Monday],” Nittany Lions middle linebacker Josh Hull said Tuesday morning. “He looked real good, he looked fast, changed directions well. He’s going to be ready for Saturday.”

Hull was also asked about Sean Lee’s availability, and though he wasn’t as optimistic, he told Rittenberg pretty much what all of us Penn State fans already knew.

“They might have to chain him to the bench,” Hull said. “His status is still in the air right now. … He did not practice [Monday] and we’ll leave it at that.”

Sean Lee missed all of last season with a knee injury, but has shined in his return to the lineup in 2009.  In three weeks he has twice been named the Big Ten’s defensive player of the week, and leads the team in both tackles and tackles for a loss, with numbers that rank among the conference’s best.  He’s also notable for his remarkable toughness, and if I was told Saturday morning that there was a 1 percent chance that he’d play that night, I’d remain optimistic.  Lee defines “gamer” and it’s going to take a pretty serious injury to keep him off the field on Saturday.

Bowman has played only sparingly this season, but comes off of a breakout sophomore season a year ago that saw him rack up a whopping 121 tackles to go along with 4 sacks, and in which he was named a consensus All-Conference selection.

If Lee is unable to go Saturday, Nate Stupar, who has spent the last 3 weeks filling in for Navorro Bowman, is expected to start in his stead.  Stupar made a mark on special teams a year ago, but has been solid at linebacker this year, ranking 3rd on the team with 22 tackles and 1 interception.

Also, Graham Zug, who left last week’s win over Temple early with a concussion has passed all medical tests and cleared all requirements, and Daryll Clark’s favorite target will be in the lineup this week.