As No. 12 Penn State (9-3, 6-3) prepares to face No. 14 Kentucky (9-3, 5-3) in the VRBO Citrus Bowl, James Franklin and various Nittany Lions addressed the media on Friday. The New Year's Day game, broadcasted on ABC, ESPN Radio and the Penn State Sports Network, is slated for a 1 p.m. kick in Orlando, Florida.
National Signing Day
With National Signing day quickly approaching, head coach James Franklin spent a chunk of Friday's media availability discussing recruiting, the early signing period and more. "We're going to try to do our work year-round, try to have the majority of our class put together and set. At this time of year the official visits and things like that, the home visits, it's really a celebration of their future. It's not going in and recruiting guys, the hard sell, things like that," Franklin said. "For the most part we've done a good job of that. For the most, part we've probably had less drama and issues than most programs in the country if you really look at it from that perspective. But then there's also the aspect where you got to go and close on the last few guys. That's always challenging. I think the early signing period, for the most part, has done what it was intended to do."
Josh Allen
Josh Allen, one of the most electric defensive players in the country, will present a unique challenge for the Nittany Lions. The Nagurski and Bednarik Award winner and projected first round NFL draft pick, Allen lead the SEC with 14 sacks. "He's the SEC Defensive Player of the Year for a reason. You turn on film and you kind of see him automatically with the game record in his eyes," Miles Sanders said. "He's a great player. It's going to be a good challenge for us."
"Josh Allen's a great player. They're odd-front, three-four, they rotate. It's kind of like the defense we saw the past couple weeks where it could go from odd to even, they rotate around. They've got great linebackers," Connor McGovern added. "The defensive front likes to hold up blocks. A lot of the linebackers get reads. Josh Allen will do what he wants to do."
Benny Snell
Benny Snell, a Westerville, Ohio native, played a major role in the Wildcats offensive success this season. The junior rushed for 1,305 yards, 14 touchdowns and averaged over 108 rushing yards per game. There's no doubt Kentucky will look to get the back going early and often against Penn State. "He's a really good player. He's an All-American." Yetur Gross-Matos said. "He has great play potential. We'll try to keep him within the box and not let him out."
"They're unique in the way they run the football – jet motion, unbalanced, wildcat, RPOs, reads, they do it all. They are majoring in ways to run the football. I have great respect for Eddie Gran and Darren Hinshaw and the job they do offensively down there," defensive coordinator Brent Pry added. "Darren and I worked together at Memphis for three years and I know what a good coach he is and how well prepared they'll be for us. Not to mention, they have an All-American tailback and an awfully good offensive line. We have our hands full."
Evolution of the defense
"I think you've seen throughout the season how we've gotten better and better each game," Garrett Taylor said. "The young guys got more comfortable out there. It's a lot different getting practice reps than game reps. A lot of young guys grew up fast. Obviously, Micah (Parsons), and Yetur (Gross-Matos) had great seasons. I think we're just better as a defense when everyone is doing their job when they're supposed to be doing it."
"I think we've tightened up. The first game against App State had a lot of new starters, a lot of new people in the defense and we gave up more points than we thought and more yards than we thought," Jan Johnson said. "I think that we've tightened it up throughout the year. I think it's just people getting more comfortable with what we're doing. The communication has gotten a lot better from the start of the season, and people have been executing better."
