Penn State to ‘embrace’ current model of college football this offseason, James Franklin says
After the way Penn State’s 4-5 2020 season played out, head coach James Franklin knows there isn’t an area of the program that doesn’t warrant a closer look this offseason.
The Nittany Lions ended their year with a 35-point rout of Illinois and a chance to play in a bowl game despite starting the season with five consecutive losses for the first time in school history. But after a team discussion, they decided to forgo the postseason — not making a bowl appearance for the first time in Franklin’s seven years at the helm.
“I wouldn’t say anything about this past season was comfortable,” Franklin said Monday, speaking to reporters for the first time since the end of Penn State’s season.
Now, even with a change at offensive coordinator — bringing in Mike Yurcich from Texas and parting ways with Kirk Ciarrocca after one season — and already landing more transfers than in any other offseason in the program’s history, Franklin and Co. may just be getting started.
With the lack of continuity among coaching staffs and more transfers than ever before throughout college football, Franklin said the Nittany Lions are just trying to keep up with the times.
“College football has changed dramatically over the last five years,” Franklin said. “And the reality is — whether you like it, whether you agree with it, whether it’s what you’re used to or not — you have to embrace it. You have to move forward. You have to understand what the current model is.”
HIRING OF OC MIKE YURCICH/FIRING OF OC KIRK CIARROCCA
For the first time since making the move, Franklin explained why he chose to hire Yurcich and let go of Ciarrocca.
Franklin — who just hired his fifth offensive coordinator in eight seasons — said the decision stemmed from wanting to generate more explosive plays, score more points and limit turnovers.
“Yurcich is a guy that I’ve been in contact with and communicating with for a long time,” Franklin said. “I think at the end of the day, it was a very tough decision, obviously. But philosophically, I felt like it was the right thing for us to do to get where we wanna go and play a style on offense that I think is going to be important for us to play in a lot of different ways.”
With previous stops as offensive coordinator at Texas and Oklahoma State, Yurcich has built a reputation for leading exciting offenses that score a lot of points. The Longhorns ranked No. 8 in points per game (42.7) and No. 19 in yards per game (475.4) under his watch last season.
In contrast, Ciarrocca’s offenses in the past thrived by holding on to the football and chewing up time off the clock. Last season, Penn State ranked No. 54 in points per game (29.8) and No. 37 in yards per game (430.3).
Franklin hopes that the hire of Yurcich will bring a more exciting brand of offensive football to Happy Valley.
“We want to be able to put people in conflict and make people uncomfortable and make people defend the field,” he said.
PLAYERS LEAVING AND ARRIVING
Penn State’s roster already looks a bit different than it did just a month ago at the end of the season.
The Nittany Lions have had a few players choose to enter the transfer portal — most notably starting redshirt senior defensive tackle Antonio Shelton and redshirt junior offensive lineman C.J. Thorpe. But they’ve also added a handful of players via the portal who could come in and contribute right away.
Running back John Lovett from Baylor, cornerback John Dixon from South Carolina, defensive tackle Derrick Tangelo from Duke and defensive end Arnold Ebiketie from Temple are all players with experience playing high-level college football.
“I’m very pleased with how my staff has handled it,” Franklin said of the roster turnover. “(There have been) a lot of conversations that have happened with players and their parents in our program — players leaving our program, whether it’s going to the NFL or deciding to go into the transfer portal.”
Franklin said this is yet another example of Penn State “embracing the new model of college football.”
Despite the already-solid additions to the roster, Franklin said the Nittany Lions still have holes to fill. He and his staff are looking to bring in players at defensive end and defensive back — whether it be through the portal or through traditional recruiting.
“There’s still some options out there, and there will continue to be options out there,” Franklin said. “So that’s probably our focus moving forward.”
COULD PSU BRING IN A TRANSFER QB?
So, the question arises: With how aggressive Penn State has already been in recruiting transfers, could the program bring in a transfer quarterback to compete for the starting role?
Redshirt junior quarterback Sean Clifford had his fair share of struggles last season, throwing for 1,883 yards, 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions over nine games. In a year in which many expected the 6-foot-2 second-year starter to take a step forward, he regressed. And it’s entirely possible that with a new offensive coordinator in Yurcich, a change at quarterback could be coming.
“We’re gonna be as aggressive as we have to be at every position to help our football team,” Franklin said. “And if there’s something that makes sense and clearly makes us better, we’re gonna look at it.”
Though that wasn’t a statement that makes one believe the Nittany Lions are hard-pressed to find a new quarterback, those words didn’t exactly show unwavering support for Clifford, either.
When asked to evaluate the play of his quarterbacks from last season — Clifford and backup redshirt sophomore quarterback Will Levis, who stepped in at times — Franklin said his team must “take the next step” at the position.
“I think when you look at the metrics, in terms of touchdown-to-interception ratio, when you talk about completion percentage, when you talk about third down, when you talk about wins and losses — the most important one — you talk about all those things ... I wouldn’t say that we took a step in the right direction,” Franklin said. “I wouldn’t say that we built on the year before.”
Still, Franklin added that he and his staff “feel good” about the players they currently have on the roster at the position.
This story was originally published January 19, 2021 at 5:44 PM.
