James Franklin addresses status of WR Juwan Johnson — and other Penn State highlights

Here are the highlights from Penn State head coach James Franklin’s weekly press conference Tuesday, which came ahead of Saturday’s noon contest against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

WR Juwan Johnson remains injured

Franklin normally doesn’t discuss injuries, but he did acknowledge Tuesday that Johnson is still not at 100 percent.

“Juwan is obviously fighting through some things,” he said. “Juwan’s been through things like this throughout his career and his life, and our team has been awesome with him. ... But we got to get him healthy and, once he’s healthy, he’ll be able to go out there and contribute at a very high level.

“We just got to get him 100 percent healthy. ... When that will be, I’m not going to speculate.”

Johnson has missed the last two games after an unspecified injury against Indiana. Jahan Dotson saw a bigger role against Wisconsin as a result, and that’s expected to continue.

What was with that odd play-call at the end of Wisconsin?

Remember when the Nittany Lions fumbled late in the fourth quarter Saturday, when using motion and other moving parts with less than two minutes left in the game?

Well, Franklin was asked about it again Tuesday — but still refused to label the play-call a mistake.

Franklin said he’s heard people ask, “Why are you running that style of play anyway?” His response: “That’s not really the issue. The issue’s the execution.”

The head coach reiterated this isn’t a two-TE, one-WR kind of offense. “I know sometimes that’s difficult for people to kind of grasp in their mind,” Franklin said.

“You can’t become something you’re not.”

OK then.

Impact of running game

Penn State finished a respectable 6-of-15 (40 percent) on third downs Saturday, a noticeable improvement from the last few weeks. And Franklin attributed much of that to a running game that hasn’t been driven backward.

Last year, Franklin said, about 11 percent of Penn State’s running plays were stuffed behind the line of scrimmage — a rate that put them among the worst teams in the FBS. This season? He said that’s nearly been flipped, as Penn State ranks in the top 35 in that category.

“We’re running the ball better, and I think we have more of a commitment to do that, especially with Miles,” Franklin said.

What will it take for LB Micah Parsons to start?

One of the big storylines later in the season here is just what freshman phenom Micah Parsons needs to do to earn a start. He’s outplayed veteran Koa Farmer — he leads the team with 58 tackles — but the linebacker continues to split time with him.

Franklin was asked Tuesday what Parsons has to do earn the nod and what’s made him so impressive. Here’s what the head coach said:

“He is now not just relying on his athletic ability and his natural instincts, which is what he was doing early in the season. He’s now using the techniques and fundamentals and keys and things like that that are allowing him to take his game to the next level.

“We’ll just continue heading in that direction. This week is a new week, and we’ll make the decisions after Thursday’s practice and in Friday morning.”

Same change(s) at offensive tackle?

Left tackle Ryan Bates and right tackle Will Fries both switched positions last week, although Franklin said, it didn’t “pan out as well as we would’ve liked.”

The head coach wouldn’t get into specifics as to why the change was made, outside of explaining the staff felt it’d put the two in position to play their best football. (Fries, who has struggled in 2018, appeared to play better on the left last season.)

Still, Franklin wouldn’t rule out the same switch occurring this weekend. He said the staff is still evaluating the best course of action.

“We’ll look at it again this week,” Franklin said.

Players of the game vs. Wisconsin

Every Tuesday, the coaching staff announces the players of the game. This time, in the 22-10 win over Wisconsin, the players of the game were:

Offense: Miles Sanders (23 carries, 159 yards, 1 TD; 2 catches, 9 yards)

Defense: Rob Windsor (6 tackles, 2 sacks)

Special teams: N/A

Regarding Wisconsin, Franklin also said he was especially pleased with how Penn State controlled the time of possession. “Whenever you’re able to take someone’s identity and flip that stat in your direction, it’s very helpful,” he added.

This story was originally published November 13, 2018 at 1:15 PM.