Penn State again held interviews for reporters this week as the Nittany Lions continue to prepare off campus while awaiting for a possible return this summer. This week, that meant interviews with senior safety Lamont Wade and junior tight end Pat Freiermuth.

Additionally, Penn State head coach James Franklin checked in with Molly Fletcher for an extended podcast interview that offered some interesting insights into his current mindset.

And, we finished out a look at Penn State men's basketball's upcoming nonconference slate, which is nearly filled out in its entirety.

Let's go back to the 3-2-1 to tackle the week that was:

1 - James Franklin is evolving

In his wide-ranging interview regarding leadership, his core values and adaptability in the age of COVID-19, Franklin offered some interesting insight into his thought processes and how they've changed through the years.

One point I took particular note of was his response when asked whether he's driven more by fear of failure or his motivation to win.

"Growing up, I was a big fear of failure guy. When I was young, I had a lot of anxiety about not being successful and fear of failure. I was driven by that. I'll admit it," Franklin said. "But I think the older I've gotten, it's been more about winning and finding a way to be successful."

And, he continued, even the notion of winning demands a fuller explanation.

"It's not necessarily winning, for me, it's the pursuit of winning. It's the championship habits that you're living and teaching every single day. It's about how you go about your business," he said. "You're not gonna win every single battle, although I wish we could and I wish I could. But it's about being able to put your head on the pillow at the end of the day, and feeling really good about what you accomplished, about how you went about your business, about how you treated people, and that you made the tough choice, not taking the path of least resistance and doing what's going to be best for Penn State, doing what's going to be best for our football players and team and coaches and for my family. That's what drives me now is this pursuit of being the best version of myself and the same thing for my staff and team."

Wholly bought-in on the process for some time now, Franklin also touched on something that more often than not gets lost in the results-driven culture of major college athletics. Owning a passion for instruction and leading student-athletes, the results are ultimately, for him, what unlocks the ability for him to continue doing what he loves most.

"The wins are important," he said. "But the wins really are important because they allow you to continue doing what you want to do, which is make a difference in people's lives. The winning allows you to stay in a place to be able to do that long-term."

2 - Penn State men's basketball's list of nonconference opponents continues to take shape

But, we'll start with a caveat.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, agreements are in place, with some of the final arrangements yet to be made. Until they're solidified, though, this will remain a tentative nonconference list of opponents.

That said, 10 of the 11 opponents without dates are presented below:

- Seton Hall to open the season on November 10 at the Bryce Jordan Center. (Reported by Zach Braziller.)

- Bucknell (Reported first by Jon Rothstein, confirmed here.)

- Three games at the Charleston Classic on November 19, 20, and 22 against a field that will include College of Charleston, Florida State, Houston, Oklahoma State, Seton Hall, Tennessee and VCU. Obviously, Seton Hall would be expected to be on the other side of the bracket.

- Penn (Reported by Mark Brennan of Fight on State)

- Big Ten/ACC Challenge - likely a road game with the opponent announced in August for a game that followed a two-game Big Ten stint in the middle of the noncon.

- Florida on December 13 in Brooklyn in a one-day event that will also include West Virginia facing Purdue. (Reported first by Jon Rothstein, confirmed here.)

- Holy Cross (new)

- Boston University (new)

3 - Lamont Wade has some breakout candidates in mind for the safeties room

We've already looked ahead to Penn State's safeties for the 2020 season, but during Wade's web conference with reporters this week, he offered some of his own dark horse candidates to be contributors this season.

"Besides me, [Jaquan] Brisker and [Jonathan] Sutherland, I feel like CJ Holmes, the transfer from Notre Dame. He's been through a lot of setbacks, but he's a hard worker and he's just as athletic as anybody on our defense. I feel like he should be someone that's about to rise up," Wade said. "Tyler Rudolph, both of those guys are from Connecticut. Tyler Rudolph is extremely fast. He can cover, play in the box. He reminds me of me a little bit as far as he could do multiple things. So I look forward to seeing that out of Tyler.

"And then we got the young guys like a Ji'Ayer [Brown] and Enzo [Jennings], and those are guys who are coming in and showing that they're hardworking learners, that they really want to learn to be able to contribute. So I'm excited about everybody."

We're expecting Wade to play the field position with Brisker starting at the boundary position. When Wade shifts to the nickel, Brisker will slide to the field and Sutherland into the boundary.

1 - Are players ready for the very un-business-as-usual set of circumstances that will greet them upon their return?

James Franklin himself first brought the concept of split meetings to life when he spoke to reporters earlier this month, but the notion probably has not completely sunk in from a public perception standpoint and, as we learned this week, from the viewpoint of the players themselves.

Let's go to the quote:

“Say you meet as a team. You can't really have team meetings right now under the way things are. So that's going to go out,” Franklin said. “OK, well, are you going to be able to have offense and defensive unit meetings? Well, you're probably not going to be able to do that as well.

“But the other challenge is, are you going to meet with all your quarterbacks at the same time? If you meet with all your quarterbacks at the same time and they all get sick, you won't have a healthy quarterback. So now you're going to have to break up your quarterback meetings as well, where you separate those.”

Asked this week whether he'd considered any of those possibilities, especially in rooms like quarterback or tight end where there isn't really a crossover between positions, Pat Freiermuth acknowledged that he hadn't. And, as he continued, it proved to be for good reason.

"Not really. I haven't really considered that," Freiermuth said. "I'm just thinking about getting back and being with my teammates. We're all just excited to get back. So if there's certain guidelines we have to follow where we all can't meet as a team or can't meet as a full position group, then we have to follow that. But I haven't really thought about it, to be completely honest. I'm just excited to go back and see my teammates in any way that we're allowed to."

As Wade also revealed, as has seemingly every other current Nittany Lion itching to return to the sport they love so much, there is a deep trust that the program will do whatever is necessary to keep them safe and they'll follow those instructions if it means they'll have the opportunity to play.

2 - What's the latest?

Centre County is green as of Friday.

In Pennsylvania, that means stay-at-home orders are lifted for the county in which Penn State is situated. It means bars and restaurants can re-open for in-person dining, with restrictions. It means that gyms can re-open, also with restrictions.

And, maybe most relevant to Penn State sports, this is the latest regarding the governor's guidance for "professional sports"

"The Wolf Administration has worked with Pennsylvania’s professional sports teams to develop guidance that allows for competition to resume.

"Professional sports, defined as any sporting event at which the participants are paid by a league or team, or at which individuals or teams receive prizes or purse, are allowed to practice or play in the yellow and green phases of reopening without on-site or venue spectators if the team (or league on behalf of the team) has developed a COVID-19 safety plan.

"Such a plan must be approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and include, among other requirements, testing or screening and monitoring of all on-venue players and personnel. Also, no fans or spectators may be permitted on interior or exterior venue property."

Granted, college athletics are a step removed from these guidelines, but we can only assume that Penn State's athletic department is working out the necessary safe conditions to be able to allow its football program (and men's and women's basketball) the opportunity to again use their facilities.

ONE PREDICTION: Pat Freiermuth will get his Mackey Award

Freiermuth wasn't even among the eight semifinalists for last year's Mackey Award, meaning he obviously wasn't a finalist or its eventual winner, who turned out to be Florida Atlantic's Harrison Bryant. The other two finalists, Washington's Hunter Bryant and Miami's Brevin Jordan, were part of a semifinalist group that also included Purdue's Brycen Hopkins, Charlie Kolar of Iowa State, Albert Okwuegbunam of Missouri, Colby Parkinson of Stanford and Western Michigan's Giovanni Ricci.

Of those eight, only Jordan and Kolar will be back this season.

Freiermuth finished with 43 catches for 507 yards and seven touchdowns on 61 targets. Kolar had 51 catches on 81 targets for 697 yards and seven touchdowns. Jordan had 35 catches on 48 targets for 495 yards and two scores.

Here's to guessing, with Penn State's lack of established returning receiver options, that Freiermuth puts up the monster numbers to achieving his goals this season.

"My goal is to be considered the best tight end in the country. As you guys all know, my goal is to win the Mackey and become an All American and all that, and that hasn't stopped yet," Freiermuth said this week. "I think that this year I just need to put it all together. I think that to become the best tight end in the country, I need to excel in every aspect of the game. Run blocking, pass protection and my routes. I think I'm equipped to do all the above, and I think that the work I put in this offseason that I'm very confident that I'm going to be able to get that done. I'm very confident in myself as a player, that I can become the best tight end in the country."

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