Penn State coach James Franklin says football is ‘being challenged at every corner’ at NFF banquet
James Franklin believes that the game of football is “being challenged at every corner.”
Franklin spoke at the National Football Foundation’s Central Pennsylvania Chapter banquet, addressing a crowd of high school coaches, players and family members at the Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center on Sunday. His message was brief, about three-and-a-half minutes. Like his 2017 appearance, Franklin applauded the lessons learned playing and coaching football.
But, before his speech, he touched on the state of the game when asked about the importance of the NFF.
“This is an organization that really promotes the game of football. And right now, we’re in a time where football is being challenged at every corner,” the coach said in a small media scrum. “So having an organization like this — that at each level is really promoting the game — I think it’s more important than it’s ever been.”
Franklin didn’t expand on what he meant by “every corner”; he didn’t have time to, either, as the banquet was about to begin.
Later on, Franklin closed his speech by pleading to the players in attendance to continue pursuing the game of football.
“I’m a big believer of our education system in the United States. ... But I couldn’t tell you one thing that I learned from my calculus class in high school,” Franklin said. “But I can tell you all the lessons I learned playing and coaching this great game, about leadership, about mental toughness, about physical toughness, about how to be a follower, about how to work with others from so many different backgrounds. ... That’s what’s so special about this game.”
Reaction to new transfer rule
Franklin has voiced concerns over the NCAA’s new transfer rule in the past and did so again Sunday.
Back in February, Franklin said the NCAA responded to one extreme (programs blocking any transfer destination they wanted) with another extreme (allowing the portal to turn the offseason into a free agency period). The coach said with the rule change offering a “path of least resistance,” he was “worried about college football” and “worried about what we’re teaching young people.”
Franklin reiterated those concerns in his earlier media scrum Sunday, when complimenting the journey of NFL long-snapper and Philipsburg native Jon Condo — the banquet’s feature speaker.
“Everyone thinks that their career is going to go like Saquon Barkley’s, and very few do. But there are a lot of different ways to get where you want to go,” Franklin said. “That’s one of the things that I worry about now with some of the rule changes in college football. I worry that you’re going to have less of that. I think one of the real values in college football is guys having to overcome adversity. When there’s an easy way out, I don’t know if guys are going to learn that or if they’ll have to take on a new position or role and redefine themselves.”