What James Franklin said about expected fan reaction & more ahead of Northwestern game
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Franklin expects a negative Beaver Stadium reaction and urges team focus.
- Players defend Franklin, commit to execute and stabilize team performance.
- Franklin vows measured adjustments, supports coordinators and evaluates reps.
James Franklin is not oblivious to the conversations about him, his program and his job status. The Penn State head coach has come under fire this week after the Nittany Lions dropped to 3-2 with a loss to a then-0-4 UCLA team, with fans calling for him to be fired.
And now he and his team will play in front of those fans in Beaver Stadium Saturday for the first time since the loss , with a crowd reaction that will likely be much more negative than usual — not that it’s something Franklin hasn’t heard before.
“We’ve had this in the past. I obviously don’t want it. Nobody wants it,” Franklin said following the team’s Wednesday night practice. “I want the players to have a great experience. I want the coaches to have a great experience. I want the fans to feel good and be excited, and I know that we impact their mood for the week and the year. So I get it. Do I like it? Am I happy about it? No, but I get it. This is a place that’s got high expectations and high standards.”
When it has happened in the past, most notably in the team’s matchup with Minnesota in October 2016, things went well for Penn State. The Nittany Lions won that game, then upset No. 2 Ohio State later that month — which led to a Big Ten title game appearance and victory. There’s no guarantee things go that well this time, but it’s not impossible as long as the players are able to focus on the task at hand each week.
And despite the noise being directed at Franklin, that doesn’t mean the players don’t hear it — and aren’t impacted by it. Dani Dennis-Sutton said as much after the team lost to Oregon a week before Penn State fell to the Bruins.
He and his teammates feel bad that Franklin is catching the flak for their performance on the field. But they don’t see him as being at fault.
And the players at the top of the roster — like quarterback Drew Allar — still believe in their head coach and what this team can accomplish.
“I’m excited to go out there and play another game for him, because there’s no other coach in the country that I’d rather be going out there for on Saturday,” Allar said during his Wednesday morning media availability. “It’s our job as players, and including myself, it starts with me of going out there and executing at a high level so we can go out and put our best brand of football out there.”
No room for error
Despite the sense of urgency in the program, and the need to win the next seven games to make the College Football Playoff, there will not be drastic changes. Franklin was asked if he will be more hands-on with his coordinators — OC Andy Kotelnicki, DC Jim Knowles and STC Justin Lustig — moving forward because of the team’s struggles, and he indicated that things will stay the same.
“I’m going to be hands on every single week as much as I have to to support Jim, Andy, Stig, the rest of the coaches, the strength staff,” Franklin said. “But again, we’ve had a process here that’s been pretty consistent at a pretty high level for a long time. So what we’re also not going to do is overreact. I’ve hired really good coaches with really good experience and really good background. So at the end of the day, I’m going to let them do their jobs, but I’m going to be supportive and step in and have the conversations I need to have when appropriate.”
That’s true when it comes to personnel, too. Wide receivers Tyseer Denmark and Koby Howard have both been praised by coaches and teammates alike in fall camp and during the season, but have seen limited reps since the season opener against Nevada.
And despite those praises at times, that doesn’t mean any changes are coming to the receiver rotation, because the top three — Kyron Hudson, Trebor Peña and Devonte Ross — have separated themselves to this point.
“We’re in a position right now where we don’t have plays and drives to just throw somebody out there and see how it goes,” Franklin said. “We got to get our best guys on the field. Every rep is like gold, every drive is like gold, and we got to maximize that. And if we feel like guys give us a better chance based on what we see in practice, then yeah, we would do that. But if not, we’re not in a position right now to just put guys out there to see how they do that. That’s what practice is for.”
That being said, Franklin was non-committal about what is going to happen with the running back rotation moving forward. He made it clear that Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen are the team’s top two backs, but how they split carries remains to be seen. Franklin said Allen has earned additional touches, but did not commit to that being the case on Saturday against Northwestern.
Quick hitters
- Franklin said the team would have liked to rotate at right tackle between Nolan Rucci and Anthony Donkoh all season, had they been healthy enough to do it. Donkoh has been banged up so far this season.
- The head coach attributed the fact that none of the team’s young linebackers have cracked their rotation to their inexperience and the complexity of the defense, but emphasized that it will be important to get them ready moving forward.
- Safety King Mack said he started going to defensive staff meetings after practice to help him learn the defense. He said Zion Tracy, Audavion Collins, Zakee Wheatley and A.J. Harris have all done the same.
