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What Did Penn State Coach James Franklin Say Before the Purdue Game?

Harry November 12, 2024

Penn State football coach James Franklin held his weekly news conference Monday ahead of the team’s trip to Purdue, where the Nittany Lions will try to win their fourth road game of the season. Franklin addressed a variety of topics regarding his team, including the running back situation, depth at linebacker and some promising freshmen.

Here’s a sample of what Franklin said. Penn State It will visit Purdue on Saturday at 3:30pm on CBS.

On the development of quarterbacks: I think a really good example is Drew (Allar) is a morning person, right, he was there watching a movie at 6:30 this morning. Beau (Pribula) usually watches movies for a few hours in the afternoon. I think Grunk (Ethan Grunkemeyer) has really opened it up recently and hopefully (Jaxon) Smolik will be back with us very, very soon and it looks great. But I think it’s just a combination, right?

It’s a combination of the fact that most of these guys, or all of them, I’m sorry, are a year older. They are a year older in their college experience. They watched a ton of movies. In some ways it is beneficial to play in more than one scheme. It’s funny, I was listening to Jay Reed talk about this the other day, and the truth is, there are things that Brett Pry does very well. There are things Manny (Diaz) does very well. There are things Tom Allen does very well. And a guy like Jay Reed can learn from all of them, right? I think if you look at quarterbacks, there are a lot of similarities in terms of what they can do in Danny (O’Brien)’s evolution as both a coach and a player.

About Drew Allar: I think Drew consistently stays comfortable and in control in games. I think the biggest thing I noticed about him was his mobility. I think that’s been a huge factor for his offense and our offense, especially the vertical, vertical tackles. Stepping up and climbing into the pocket was a big deal. And frankly, I think the development of the positions around him also played an important role in this. I think Danny, Andy (Kotelnicki), the point guards and other positions play a role in that. But I’ve been very pleased with their progress and the direction we’re going.

On how running backs handle depth issues: I think it’s good. I think if you just look at college football and even the NFL, you better have depth at that position, especially if you’re committed to running the football like we do. There will be swelling and bruises due to this. We had two young backs that I think you know we’re excited about. And I think there was a lot of talk about Quinton (Martin Jr.) early on, and he deserved it. But I think there was also a lot of excitement in the Lasch Building about Corey (Smith), who probably had a different style than the other three. But it was great to see him get in there.

And in the long run, that’s probably what everyone is excited about, even though he went to hell for it yesterday in the team meeting and with his teammates. Probably the most impressive run for us was his first run, his first run as a college football player. His patience, his talent and his slightly dirty reading to be vertical. He still needs to put on some weight and do a great job in the weight room, but he’s bounced back there and had a really productive run. So that’s good. These guys are being developed. I think we are talented in this position. I think they hold up well. I think both Nick (Singleton) and Kaytron (Allen) complement each other really well. And we’ll need them all as this season continues.

Cornerback AJ Harris: I think AJ did a really good job. When you think about the history and tradition of Penn State, we have as good a history and tradition as anywhere in the country, but there were probably fewer examples of that in the corner room over time. And I think (cornerbacks coach) Terry (Smith) changed that dramatically. It’s not disrespectful, I don’t mean disrespect in any way, but Terry did a really good job getting into position. And you talk about draft picks, and you talk about All-Conference players and that kind of thing, and you talk about a certain position and how the conference has changed: a lot more spread offense, a lot more throwing the ball around. Terry did an outstanding job.

Whether it’s high school students that we’re developing or going to the transfer portal — as you know, we’re not a big transfer portal team — but looking a little bit at junior college recruiting in the past, going out and filling a pressing need or just bringing experienced leadership into the room. AJ is a little different because you’re talking about bringing in a guy as a redshirt freshman, which is usually unusual from the transfer portal. But of course, if you look at him as well as Kimber, Kimber played very good football in the SEC. And then we talk about AJ, just too loud (indistinguishable)
We hired a young man we worked with after high school, but when he came to campus he agreed to everything we asked him to do. I tested really well physically and then I embraced the competition in that gym.

Depth at defensive tackle: I think Alonzo’s (Ford’s) influence is a guy we’re not quite sure what we have, but he continues to move in the right direction as he gets healthier and gets back into shape. I think he was around 325 pounds at one point. I just want to say he’s around 305 right now and he’s moving really well. Very good. Frankly, I think Dvon (J-Thomas) and Zane (Durant) guided us in this regard. Coziah (Izzard) was a guy we didn’t have last week, so that made it even bigger. Coziah was out last week. We hope to get him back but this has escalated the situation even further.

So they’re three experienced players who have played a ton of football for us. As other players continue to grow, we will need them to continue playing well. But I also think of Alonzo as a
He is an experienced player for us. So we have four D challenges. That’s the kind of position you really want to be in, having four guys you feel really good about and then a battle with some hungry young developmental guys for the fifth spot.

On the freshmen who could play in the final three games: Some names I would say fall into this category right now are Corey Smith and Tyseer Denmark, Eagan Boyer and Donnie Harbour, Xavier Gilliam, Max Granville, Jaylen Harvey, Anthony Speca, Belgrave-Shorter and Kenny Woseley and Jon Mitchell. Some of these guys will be this game. Some friends will be the next match. But players who only played in one match are ready to go. We will probably try to keep the players who played in two matches for another match.

I think Terry is a pretty good example of Kenny and Jon; He changes them every two games. And last week it was time for Kenny to be ready if the game presented an opportunity. So he was able to get in there. He played two matches. Jon only played one. So this will be Jon’s game. Now Jon can play for the rest of the year. And in the next game – not this game, but the next game – Kenny will be in a similar situation.