James Franklin evaluates Penn State freshmen, O-line and position battles ahead of home opener
Penn State entered the season with a highly touted recruiting class that came with the burden of high expectations. The Nittany Lions have 23 freshmen recruits from the 2022 class on the team and over half have made significant progress already. There were 13 true freshmen that traveled with the program to its season opener on the road against Purdue — and seven of them saw the field.
Head coach James Franklin said the class is already proving itself but will know more with a larger sample size of playing time.
“I’ll have a better idea after this week,” he said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “... The fact that we were able to play seven freshmen on the road against a good Big Ten team, I think is a positive. ... Good first step, we need to take the next step this week.”
The seven freshmen that played — linebacker Abdul Carter, quarterback Drew Allar, running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, wide receiver Omari Evans, defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton and defensive tackle Zane Durant — all were on the field for multiple plays.
Carter was limited to one special teams snap and one defensive snap thanks to a targeting penalty that earned him an ejection.
Franklin said Carter’s snap count would’ve been much higher had he not been disqualified.
“We were expecting him to play a decent amount in that game,” he said. “It was really dependent on how he was going to play. With it being his first game we didn’t want to have a strict rotation. Our plan was for much more than that.”
Singleton and Allen combined for 18 carries for 64 yards to make their mark out of the backfield, with both playing relatively well in their debuts. However, the star of the show was on the field for only one drive and made the most of it. Allar took over for starting quarterback Sean Clifford when he went back to the locker room after halftime.
The freshman completed two of his four pass attempts for 26 yards, making two of the best throws in the game in the process. Despite his overwhelmingly positive — albeit brief — performance, Franklin declined to name Clifford’s backup heading into this Saturday’s game against Ohio.
“We haven’t really made any decisions,” Franklin said. “... Tuesdays and Wednesdays are our work day where we get our best evaluation of kind of where we’re at. That determines some moves that we may or may not make. Like I mentioned before, it’s a competition week in and week out, but I don’t have that answer for you right now.”
Position battle updates
Franklin declined to name winners in most of the team’s position battles, including those at linebacker and safety, saying those are not items they’ve discussed yet this week.
He did add, however, that Tyler Elsdon and Kobe King would remain in the rotation they were in prior to the season opener — splitting snaps, either one or two series at a time.
And while one of the outside linebacker spots is locked down by Curtis Jacobs, the other is more of a rotation. Jonathan Sutherland primarily played those reps this week, while Dom DeLuca backed him up. Despite that, Franklin said he still sees that rotation being more about Sutherland and a nickel cornerback rather than Sutherland and a true backup linebacker.
“It’s really different because that position typically gets subbed out by going nickel,” he said. “So the rotation wouldn’t be the same there. ... We really see that Sutherland and nickel being the main rotation with DeLuca being able to get some time.”
Franklin also named all three rotation players at the safety spot opposite starter Ji’Ayir Brown. Keaton Ellis earned the start against Purdue at the position, with Zakee Wheatley and Jaylen Reed also rotating into the game.
The Penn State head coach said that will continue being the case moving forward.
Offensive line improvement
The Nittany Lion offensive line was going to have to prove itself Thursday night, and while the group didn’t end up igniting any of the big plays Franklin desires, he was still positive with the results.
The group only gave up one sack — given up by Caedan Wallace who left the game shortly thereafter and was replaced by Bryce Effner — while only committing one penalty.
Franklin said the group played well, and added that the lack of big plays may not have been on the blockers.
“Watching the tape, we had a chance for a few more explosive runs,” he said. “We had to make that one free hitter miss and we weren’t able to do that. We just got to continue to progress.”
Quick Hitters
- Tight end Theo Johnson did not play in Thursday’s game, but traveled because the team thought he might have had his undisclosed injury cleared prior to the matchup. Franklin hopes to have Johnson back soon, potentially this week.
- Franklin sees the College Football Playoff expanding from four teams to 12 as a positive, because it will help include more programs in the long run.
- Evans played limited snaps Thursday, but isn’t quite part of the rotation yet. Franklin said he’s starting WR Mitch Tinsley’s “tap guy” and will play when the starter needs a breather.
