James Franklin apologizes for handling of questions related to ex-players’ rape charges
Penn State head coach James Franklin issued an apology Saturday night following his initial handling of questions about two former players who were charged early in the week with committing rape.
After practice Wednesday night, a sports information director read from a brief statement that said Penn State would have no further comment on the charges. Franklin was then asked two separate questions about them, stepping away from the microphone both times while declining to address the topic — a move that invited outside criticism and became a top story on ESPN.
“I wanna apologize,” Franklin said Saturday night. “I didn’t do a great job of handling Wednesday. Difficult, difficult situation. I got to own that I did not do a good job of that. I understand that you guys got a job to do. You got to ask those questions, and I respect that.
“The university had put out a statement, and the reality is there’s not a whole lot more I can say other than that statement. It’s an ongoing legal situation. And it’s challenging. It’s challenging on everybody. So at the end of the day, I did not do a good job of handling that situation and representing this program the right way. ... I’m trying to get better like everybody else in a difficult situation. And I think that is a big reason for all of this. It’s a difficult situation. A challenging situation.”
LB Kaveion Keys and DE Jameial Lyons were formally arraigned Wednesday on felony counts of rape, aggravated indecent assault and other crimes for what they are alleged to have committed in early July while still members of the team.
Both Keys and Lyons were initially placed on interim suspension at the end of July, according to a team spokesperson at the time, to “deal with a personal matter.” That was roughly one month before the start of the Nittany Lions’ season and came after neither player was at the portion of the team’s first fall practice that was open to the media.
A few days after the suspension was announced, the team spokesperson said neither Keys nor Lyons was enrolled at the university any longer and were both removed from the team roster.
Lyons was projected to fill a top reserve role after recording one sack last year as a true freshman while Keys was expected to see an increased role at linebacker after he redshirted last season.
Franklin offered the mea culpa, unprompted, at the end of Saturday’s postgame press conference. He was not asked again about the charges.
