Penn State Football Head Coach James Franklin talks with the media following his program being selected as the No. 6 seed in the 2024-25 College Football Playoffs.
JOIN TODAY AND GET 30 DAYS FREE! | THE LIONS DEN FORUM | PENN STATE FOOTBALL 2025 RECRUITING CLASS | PENN STATE BASKETBALL RECRUITING
Just curious, your your initial reaction to getting a home game for the first round of the playoffs in Beaver Stadium and additionally, the fact that it is SMU is that initial opponent?
Yeah, having a home game I think is huge for, for a ton of reasons. Obviously, hopefully a home field advantage also for, you know, Happy Valley, the community should be a win win for everybody. So we're excited about that and then, you know, SMU, we're just getting to know them.
I've literally got them on the TV right now, starting to get to know them on a on a obviously much deeper level, understanding what makes them tick, how they operate, you know, what they've done this year to allow them to be successful.
You know, I have some background with which with Coach Lashlee followed his career, you know, from afar. SMU is interesting as a place. When I was at Vanderbilt, we went and visited them for their stadiums. We were talking about building a new stadium, so we went and visited a number of schools and SMU was one of them. Obviously tremendous history and tradition at SMU and you know, they've done a really good job.
Obviously, look at their roster, very different than ours. I think they have 48 players from the transfer portal. We have 9, so, you know, just very different ways of kind of building it. And, you know, they've obviously done a really good job. So looking forward to getting to know them a little bit better over the next couple days.
So what you told us earlier this year that you had met with KJ Winston, I think back during maybe October, mid-October. Just curious, there's any chance you think you might get him back for this playoff run and how you feel your health, your team's health is overall after playing an extra week?
Yeah, no, we we will not get KJ back for this year. It like I mentioned before, long, long term injury. But the other thing is we we came out of that game pretty healthy, didn't, didn't have a whole lot of issues. So I always meet with Andy Mutton and after the game in the locker room, he kind of runs down once he once he's gotten through it all and you know, we, we came out of it pretty good.
So I think we're in a pretty good place. I don't really see us getting anybody back that's been that's been out. But but in terms of, you know, who we played with this past week, we were able to come out of that game fairly healthy.
So with obviously having this week without a game, what do you guys plan on doing for this week ahead and how important is that for any guys with bumps and bruises or anything like that?
Yeah, this week will be a combination of obviously rest and recovery, getting a feel for, getting a feel for who SMU is, a ton of study on them and then some self study on ourselves as well. And then we'll we'll do some practice as well. Some of that will be more general Penn State versus Penn State, almost like early bowl practices, almost like spring ball, where we're just trying to get better at some areas that we think we have some room for improvement. And then obviously, you know, we'll get an SMU. But this week will be most importantly about rest and recovery and getting a head start on these guys.
Kaytron Allen, I mean, certainly seemed to take his his game to the next level yesterday. I think he was, you know, kind of struggling to get a a high yards per carry output. The last month or so changed in a big way Saturday. Is there anything you would would attribute his performance to? And when him and Nick are rolling like that together, what does it do for your team?
Well, obviously when you know you're able to put up the numbers that we were able to put up on Saturday, it allows you to be explosive. It allows you to stay on schedule, allows your play action, pass game to really get going. But when you Kaytron rushes for 124 yards and 8.9 yards per carry and Singleton 105 yards and and 10.5 yards per carry, and then Nick also, you know, another 43 yards on top of that, you know, obviously that that's the ideal situation, but it starts up front.
Our offensive line, I thought did a really good job against a front that we had a ton of respect for on film and statistically. But our old line and tight ends did a did a really good job. And I thought Nick and Kaytron did a good job of breaking tackles and making people miss and falling forward.
So that was a real positive. It's something obviously we'd like to sustain, you know, for the rest of the season that's going to be important. But it's a challenge because everybody goes in with the mindset on defense that you're going to try to make people one-dimensional and stop the run.
Are recruits able to visit for a for a home playoff game And if So what what kind of opportunity does maybe this present for that from that point of view?
Yeah, this you know although this is a Penn State home game, it is not our game. This, this game is, is really run by the, the playoffs and, and we don't even control the tickets. So we don't get recruiting tickets. We don't, we don't get anything. You know, all the ticket revenue goes to the College Football Playoff. You know, this, this, this, we don't really, although it is a home game for us, we don't gain any advantages that way.
If if recruits want to come to the game, they're welcome to come to the game, but they're going to have to buy their own tickets and and those types of things. It's not like a home game where we're able to provide tickets and things like that.
So there's advantages, but not not as much of an advantage from a recruiting perspective as as people may think, other than obviously, you know, really good players are still able to watch us continue to play this season.
Hey James, when you kind of get to this point of the year, do you feel like your offense is playing their best ball right now after kind of what you guys were able to do last night?
Well, we'll see. I think, you know, we're getting better, but we'll see.It's all going to be based off of how we play against SMU.I mean it's it's it's what you do on a consistent basis. And although we did some really good things on Saturday, we turned the ball over 2 times and it's hard to win when you lose the turnover ratio.
So we did some really good things to build off of. We got to eliminate those, those bad football plays that hurt you. But but overall, yeah, we're doing some good things. But you know that that'll be that'll be decided really and how we play the rest of the season. So I'm going to hold my strong opinions until, you know, after, after the season.
Coach, I know you guys always have a plan for everything, so what's your plan for handling the opening of the transfer portal as you also get ready for this College Football Playoff game?
Yeah, we're moving, and I'm pushing my staff to be very aggressive there. The challenge that I don't think a lot of people think about is typically when your season ends and you're in that time getting ready for a bowl game, you have time to sit down with all of your players and find out what's going on, who's coming back, who's considering going into the transfer portal, who, who is going into the transfer portal. And a lot of those things impact your decision making on on who you're going to try to go out and get to replace those those guys with. So it's hard to come up with a plan.
You know, we'll do that this week, but we're probably a week behind other programs. I didn't really want to be having those conversations last week when we were getting ready for Oregon. So that that's a little bit of a challenge. It's hard to totally know what you want to do in the portal until you know exactly what's going on with your current roster for next year. But I've asked our staff to be aggressive and, and, and, and move, you know, and make some decisions, you know, in positions that we think we're going to have some needs.So we'll have a better idea this week.
I know it's a bold press conference here, but we're packing so much into a small window. I just wanted to know if you had any comments on Andrew Olesh signing with your program on Friday. And you obviously not so subtly seem to reference him in a press conference last month. So what does his addition mean for you and what does that home state element mean for you?
Yeah, it's very important. As you guys know, all the way back to my opening press conference, you know, we want to do a great job recruiting the state of Pennsylvania, the region, the footprint, those things are, are really important. And you know, we're all, we're off to a really good start and it's next class. And, you know, being able to keep the the what people like you guys have ranked as the number one player in the state of Pennsylvania home. I think it's very important. And we've been able to do that, you know, more times than not. So that's something that's very important to us. We take a lot of pride in it.
I think it makes sense for both parties. It's a win win. So that was a battle. Ty Howe did a phenomenal job, but he's a he's an impressive young man. You know, I've got to know him and his family very well, as you can imagine. Also watch just tape from this year. He came to camp with us two years ago, so we got a pretty good idea who he is and he has a chance to be a weapon for us here in the near future.
James, we heard you and and also some of the guys last night kind of talk about embracing this, this opportunity of, you know, kind of this new season that's upon that's upon you. How have you kind of seen the team embrace that over the past, you know, 10-12 hours and and what was it like, you know, finally hearing your selection this morning?
Yeah, I, you know, I, I think of the locker room again, because the season isn't over. I think was handled pretty well. Obviously, there was still some hurt feelings and raw emotions. But overall I think guys get it and understand that we got a ton of football left in front of us as long as we handle it the right way. And I think our leadership will step up big time. Today we didn't really do anything formal. You know, we, we got here, we had a team lunch and then after we got here and had the team lunch, we just had a team meeting and told him what the next couple of days would look like. And that we would find out later this afternoon where we were playing and who we were playing against. And then that would impact, you know, our full calendar because whether we're playing a Friday game or a Saturday game, it would impact that. So we already have them all mapped out and scheduled. So the players already received it, You know what, and, and we're ready to go, but it's not like we had a, you know, watch party or anything like that.
You know, it was a, it was a long night and a, and a physical night. So guys, we want them to get rested, recovered, and we're pretty confident that we were going to be in the playoffs. It's just where we were going to be.
Assuming you've gotten a chance to to look a little bit at last night, how do you evaluate where where Drew was last night? You know, a couple of interceptions, but also some really big plays. And how far has he come since Week 1?
Yeah, I think he had probably 5 or 6 plays that are as good a plays that he's that he's had in his career and and probably 5 or 6 plays of better quarterback play that that I've ever been around as a college player. But he probably also had, you know, four or five throws that he would like back throws that he normally doesn't miss that that he missed.
Also made some big plays with his legs. So I'm very, very pleased with his overall development, his maturity, his leadership. He made some huge plays last night to to keep us in this thing and, you know, continues to do a great job of distributing the ball to our playmakers and, and also, you know, managing our run game. You know, we, we put a lot on the quarterback at the line of scrimmage and he does a really good job of managing all those things. And I think from year one to year 2, he's made a significant jump. And I think the the, the scary thing and the exciting thing is I still, I still think there's a ton left of development in him.
Coach, you and your staff obviously get talked to. Your on field staff get talked about a lot, obviously for good reasons. But in a time like this, when you're preparing for a conference title game, you're dealing with signing day, you're dealing with the transfer portal, you're now dealing with a College Football Playoff. How important are those off field staff?
Well, I guess someone can be on field now, but your support staff, your analysts, your recruiting department, things like that to this operation when there's so many things going on all at one time. Yeah, I think you've heard me talk about this in the past. Where I think there was a period where people were complaining about staff sizes in college football. And, and I think this this week and, and, and you know, this this week coming up here, this past week and this week coming up here are the perfect examples of I, I don't know how you can do it in major college football now without these Staffs.
We had a signing day during a Big 10 championship week, which typically takes a ton of resources and time and energy, and we were able to do that without the coaches being involved at all, except for myself. And then, you know, with the signing portal, same thing, you know, getting guys set up, getting guys, you know, here on campus to visit, getting transcripts, getting transcripts evaluated, etcetera.
All those things I think are really important and really challenging and we got to do that while we're preparing to play the number one team in the country, Oregon, and now play SMU, which is ranked 10th. They're ranked 10th number one seed.
So, you know, obviously we got a lot of we got a lot of different things, a lot of moving parts going on and and having those Staffs are critical. So, you know, whether it's Andy Frank or Kenny Sanders or Allen Zemaitis, or whether it is, you know, Will Ryman or Ben Kerr, Kevin Thrallkill, Destiny Rodriguez, all those people, you know, they do a phenomenal job. And sometimes we take it for granted how we travel and how we operate. They do. They do a phenomenal job for us.
How are you guys able to label this game as a whiteout? You had mentioned I think around that Illinois game or yeah, obviously the whiteout energy and that there were some other things involved in nomenclature. So how did this, how was this able to come about?
To, to be honest with you, I, I don't know, I, I said it earlier in the season and that it would be cool if we get in a playoff game that it'd be a whiteout. And then about an hour ago, I saw on social media that I guess the decision had been made and it's going to be wasn't a whole lot of conversations besides that. I mentioned it as the possibility didn't have any follow up conversations. We were focused on finishing the season the right way and it popped up on social media that that this game's a whiteout.
So not a whole lot more than that. I'm assuming Kincaid and Chris Peterson and and Pat Kraft and others, you know, Vinnie James could answer that a little bit better than me. But I just, I want to make sure that we're selling big enough white jackets and big enough white parkers to cover the hunting gear that everybody's got the best chance to follow the white out dress code.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
