James Franklin media availability takeaways (9/6)
After Penn State's practice on Wednesday evening, Penn State head coach James Franklin met with the media. Here are the major takeaways from that media availability.
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On the wide receivers...
Nobody has locked up Penn State's third wide receiver spot as a number of guys, including Liam Clifford and Malik McClain, are still battling for that spot. Franklin talked highly of McClain on Wednesday night.
"He's been a really nice addition physically. He's been a really nice addition culturally," Franklin said about McClain. "He got here a few days late after the semester started it was like a scramble. He did extremely well academically, continues to do well academically. He's always got a huge smile on his face. He's helping on special teams, he's helping on offense. We recruited him out of high school, so there was already that relationship. We had a really good relationship with his high school coach as well. He's been awesome. He's one of the more popular guys on the team. Everybody likes him. He's just been a really good fit for our program, and we're glad we got him, you know, originally out of IMG, him and Kaytron, so you know we're fortunate we've gotten some good guys out there."
When it comes to wide receiver Omari Evans, Franklin said the following as well. "It's early in the week to say (on if he'll play Saturday), but he practiced today and practiced well, so we'll see," James Franklin said about Evans potentially playing against Delaware.
Abdul Carter update
James Franklin confirmed on Wednesday that it is not new to the program that sophomore linebacker Abdul Carter was charged with marijuana possession and use in August. "Obviously, it's been handled and dealt with internally. It's new to you guys, it's not new to us," he said about the situation.
On the center position...
When asked about the center position on Wednesday, Franklin noted that the position has "some bumps and bruises, we do got some guys that are fighting through, there's some flus going through or some sickness going through campus that we're dealing with a little bit right now." He also noted that the staff has liked the development of walk-on center Dominic Rulli as well as redshirt junior Nick Dawkins.
"Rulli's been really good for us; we've been pleased with him; he's a hard worker who continues to get bigger and stronger," Franklin noted about Rulli. "Nick is a guy that almost because a captain, so well respected within our program," he added. "I think you know Venga is another guy that's played center for us and can do it as well. I wouldn't say he's a traditional center at 350 pounds, but he's got the ability to do it."
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