Notebook: James Franklin offers program-wide assessment as offseason begins
For the first time since his Nittany Lions wrapped the 2020 season with a 56-21 win against Illinois, Penn State head coach James Franklin met with the media Monday afternoon.
A session designed to provide a “state of the union” of sorts given the abrupt conclusion of the season, as well as a flurry of personnel changes both on the roster and in the coaching staff, Franklin tackled it all in his nearly 50 minutes answering questions via Zoom.
Our notebook of the prominent news, notes, and quotes to emerge from the press conference is below:
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1) Moving forward
The first and maybe the best place to start is a status report for what is going on with the program and where it’s headed in the coming days and weeks.
Effectively, the Nittany Lion football program is “back at it,” according to Franklin. That meant a few weeks of break time from the end of the Illinois game until the return to campus that took place over the weekend, the Nittany Lions welcoming their early enrollees into the dorms, and now moving forward with something approximating a normal spring semester of activities.
For the time being, that will include winter workouts for the immediate future and, eventually, a spring practice session. However, Franklin acknowledged that the nine-month calendar that is the typical procedure for the program, understanding breaks and workout schedules and all of the elements that lead into a season, is somewhat loosely defined.
“Right now we're planning to have spring football, but we haven't been told that's a go yet. We have that on the calendar. How is recruiting going to impact that? You don't know where recruiting is going to go and when some decisions are going to be made by the NCAA and when some decisions are going to be made by the Big Ten,” Franklin said. “So it's harder to plan out when there are still questions out there. That's the challenge, but we're as planned out as we possibly can be, and I think that what we're gonna have to do a good job of is being flexible.
“I think that's something that we did a better job probably the second half of the season than we did early is how do you balance what you have to do from a health and welfare standpoint based on what the doctors are recommending? What do you have to do from a state of Pennsylvania, from a Penn State, from a Big Ten, from an NCAA perspective? And then how do you find that happy medium which allows you to still coach football, practice football, and do it at a high level. And I think as the season went on, we got better at that and we're going to have to continue to be flexible based on information as it comes.”
Asked for clarification as to whether or not a real possibility existed that Penn State wouldn’t be able to conduct a normal 15-practice spring session, Franklin said that nothing has been solidified in either direction from the larger organizational powers of the NCAA, the Big Ten, or even from the university’s administration itself.
“Nobody has come out and said it either way. And I guess what I'm saying is, what 2020 has taught me and I think has taught us all is that you're going to have to be prepared for what comes, especially when you're dealing with a pandemic. I think obviously after going through a season, it's easier to say that we can pull off a spring ball and do it the right way after already being through a season. But no one has said anything either way,” Franklin said. “But I know how this is, and I still see basketball programs opting out. I've seen that, people canceling their season. I think a few women's basketball programs have opted out and things like that. It's just hard to tell.
“It's hard to tell how the Big Ten is going to handle some of these things, how the NCAA is going to handle these things, but we're moving ahead and prepared and planning on doing it all. This has taught me a valuable lesson that we're gonna have to be prepared for whatever comes and we're gonna have to be flexible. So right now, we are planned from today, moving to training camp, as we normally would, until someone tells us differently.”
2) Quarterback
From the top, and throughout, Franklin was asked about the performances of the Nittany Lions quarterbacks through the 2020 season, both starter Sean Clifford as well as one-game starter Will Levis. And, maybe as important as that evaluation, Franklin was asked whether or not the program was actively pursuing a quarterback through the NCAA transfer portal.
Noting that the program would be “as aggressive as we have to be at every position to help," Franklin added that “if there’s something that makes sense and clearly makes” the program better, then they would actively look into it.
Even so, Franklin laid out the dichotomy of the room that Penn State is currently attempting to weigh, expressing optimism about the position while acknowledging its challenges and shortcomings this past season.
From the touchdown-to-interception ratio, completion percentages, third-down conversions, and most important, wins and losses, Penn State did not have the success it wanted at the position this season, he said.
“I wouldn't say that we took a step in the right direction. I wouldn't say that we had built on the year before. And that's why there was the change,” Franklin said. “We had different starters, we had different rotations, we had a lot of different things, and there's a number of reasons for that. But yeah, I think that's another big part of this is getting back to that position playing at a high level, and even taking the next step of playing really, really high-level football, and I think we all know whether it's NFL, college or high school, that position is critical to your overall team success and that position is critical to your offensive success specifically.
“I think we feel good about the guys that we have. I think Sean has done some good things since he's been here. He was a part of us winning 11 games the year before. I think Will Levis has shown us that he has the ability to be a high-level player as well and has a very, very bright future. And then obviously, it's going to be important for us to get a chance to get a better understanding of where Ta'Quan is at in his development. And then obviously with Christian Veilleux joining us as well, kind of seeing where he's at.”
In its totality, Penn State’s quarterbacks completed 185 of 307 pass attempts for 2,304 yards and 17 touchdowns for the season, counterbalanced by nine interceptions thrown in nine games.
A mark that ultimately finished as the nation’s No. 40-ranked passing program and 55th in passing efficiency, Franklin insisted that there was no misunderstanding between the coaching staff and its quarterbacks as to what needed to take place in the weeks and months ahead.
“Being able to develop that third quarterback and finding out where the fourth quarterback is as well is going to be important, but we got to take the next step there,” Franklin said. “And I'm not telling you guys anything that I haven't already spoken with Sean. Me and Sean have had a number of conversations. Me and Will Levis have had a number of conversations, as well as their families, so I think we all understand that.”
3) Receivers
In concert with Franklin’s answers about the offensive side of the ball, particularly regarding new coordinator Mike Yurcich, Franklin also addressed the boost provided by Jahan Dotson’s announced return for a senior season, the breakouts of true freshmen Parker Washington and KeAndre Lambert-Smith, and the uncertainty that remains at the receiver position.
“Having Jahan back I think is important for us and gives us a really good building block. And there's a number of other guys, obviously,” Franklin said. “Parker did some good things as the season went on, KeAndre, but we got a bunch of other guys. Cameron Sullivan-Brown, who had some injuries this year as well that limited him.
“There's a number of guys that we're going to need to step up and we need to have a two-deep at the receiver positions that we feel good about and try to get as many of those guys involved as we possibly can. So we'll see how that all plays out, but I do think having Jahan back, and the decision that he made, I think was really important.”
Beyond the personnel, though, Franklin also added that the breadth of the position group is something he wants to see expand in the coming season.
Following a 2020 campaign that saw Dotson and Washington finish as the top two receivers, but had Pat Freiermuth finish third with 23 receptions despite his season being cut short through only four games due to injury, the distribution of the football is a focal point for the program this offseason.
“I want to get more guys involved. I want to get more guys touches. I want to get more guys' hands on the ball,” Franklin said. “I think it makes you more difficult to defend when the ball can go to a number of different people. If you get a bunch of different people involved (it helps) in your program.
“There were a lot of question marks at that position coming into the season, and obviously with Jahan coming back and more of the production coming back, there are less question marks going into this season at that position.”
4) Defense
On the defensive side of the ball, Franklin addressed a couple of topics that we’ll flesh out further, but just to touch on them here briefly:
On the defensive line, Franklin said that they’re still open to bringing in an end, whether that’s coming from the high school level or via the transfer market, despite having already added end Arnold Ebiketie from Temple and tackle Derrick Tangelo from Duke.
Beyond those remaining needs, however, Franklin also gave an overall assessment of what he wants to see from his defenses and the areas that it lived up to those standards this season and, consequently, those in which it did not.
“I wouldn't say last year fell into that category on offense, defense, or special teams,” Franklin said. “We have to limit explosive plays, probably more so now than ever. One of the ways you do that is by tackling well. We did not tackle as well last year as we have. That has shown up in previous years, but as the season has gone on we've gotten better, but tackling is going to be a big part of that.
“An area that we have to improve that I would not say has been a strength of ours is creating turnovers. Creating more turnovers is a huge momentum swing. It's big for your offense, it's big for your defense, it limits their time on the field. And then you have an opportunity to score on defense.”
Between those improvements in tackling, limiting explosive plays, creating turnovers, and limiting opponents to field goals instead of touchdowns in the red zone, Franklin also added that pressuring the quarterback will continue to need to see development after a season in which it took a step back.
“Being able to make the decision-maker uncomfortable in the pocket. That's being able to do that with a traditional four down rush or whether that's bringing pressure,” Franklin said. “We've gotten as many sacks as anybody over the last five years, but we did not have that type of production this year. And if you look at us, a lot of our pressures on quarterbacks came from our pressures, not just a straight four-down rush. And whether that was defensive line sacks or whether that was linebacker pressures and sacks, or defensive back pressures and sacks, we got to get back to that. We got to get back to making quarterback uncomfortable in the pocket.”
Acknowledging the shortcomings that existed as a big part of the Nittany Lions’ 0-5 slide before its 4-0 recovery down the stretch, Franklin said that the improvements that were made defensively on the back half of the season will need to continue moving forward.
“I think as the year went on, we started to get back to doing that again, playing good defense,” he said. “So this is going to be a critical offseason for us in all three phases, but those things are going to be emphasized like they always are and will again this spring.”
5) The personnel carousel
In addition to defensive end, Franklin also said that defensive back was the second “priority area” for the program as it looks to finish up its personnel movement through the offseason.
“This class isn't over,” he said. “We still got another signing day coming up and we got a little wiggle room left and whether that is high school kids or whether that is transfers, we'll see how that all plays out.”
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