UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Head coach James Franklin and seniors Cam Brown (Burtonsville, Md.), Blake Gillikin (Smyrna, Ga.) and John Reid (Mount Laurel, N.J.) will represent Penn State at the 48th Annual Big Ten Kickoff in Chicago July 18-19. Penn State will participate in events Friday, July 19.
The 48th annual Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon begins at 10 a.m. (CT) on Friday, July 19 with an autograph session. Around 10:50 a.m. (CT), fans can get group pictures of the current coaches and students in attendance.
The luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m. (CT) and will be hosted by ESPN's Rece Davis, who will sit down with the coaches in small groups to discuss the upcoming season. The luncheon will feature speeches by Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and Tournament of Roses president Laura Farber. The event will also feature highlight videos, additional student interviews by ESPN's Laura Rutledge and much more, including door prizes highlighted by a free trip to the 2019 Big Ten Football Championship Game and the 2020 Rose Bowl Game.
The Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon annually attracts some of the most talented names in college sports. The event has drawn legendary coaches as well as each of the conference's Heisman Trophy winners since 1970. In all, more than 1,000 of the conference's finest standouts and more than 80 head coaches have celebrated the start of a new college football season at the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon with more than 56,000 supporters. For more information, including how to purchase tickets, go to www.bigten.org/KOL.
Franklin has guided the Nittany Lions to three-straight Top 15 finishes in the College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings, making Penn State one of six teams in the country to do so. The 2018 squad finished No. 12 in the CFP rankings and No. 15 in the Associated Press (AP) and Amway Coaches polls. Penn State enters the 2019 season having been ranked in the AP Top 25 for the last 40 weeks, which is the longest streak since 1993-2000. The defense guided the way for the Lions last season, ranking in the top 20 in FBS in team sacks (1st), tackles for loss (4th), passing efficiency (8th), red zone defense (11th), passing yards allowed (15th) and third down conversion defense (19th). On the offensive side of the ball, Penn State posted its highest rushing average (204.9) since 2008 (205.8).
Under Franklin's tutelage, the Nittany Lions made back-to-back New Year's Six bowl game appearances for the first time since 1985 and 1986 with bids to the 2017 Rose Bowl and 2017 Fiesta Bowl. Franklin has seen six players selected in the NFL Draft each of the last two seasons, marking the first time since 1992 (9 draft picks) and 1993 (8) the Nittany Lions had back-to-back drafts with six or more selections.
Brown started in 12 of his 13 appearances last season. He led the team with three forced fumbles and was fifth on the squad with a career-high 63 tackles. Brown also registered a personal-best six pass breakups, which was fifth on the team. The senior linebacker has appeared in 37 games in the last three seasons. As a freshman, he was selected to the BTN.com and ESPN.com All-Big Ten Freshman Team. Brown spent part of this summer interning at The Bullis School.
Gillikin enters his final season as Penn State's record holder in career punting average (43.32 ypp) and season punting average (43.95 ypp). He is the only player in program history with three punts of 70 or more yards, all of which came in 2018. Gillikin hit a career-long 74-yard punt at Michigan, which is tied for fourth on Penn State's single-game charts with Anthony Fera. He also averaged 51.2 yards per punt in the 2019 Citrus Bowl against Kentucky, which is second in Penn State bowl history and fifth overall. A perfect 4.0 student, Gillikin was a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American last year. He spent the summer interning at Drayer Physical Therapy and performing a job shadow at Penn State Health in State College.
Reid made a strong return in 2018 after missing the 2017 season due to injury, earning honorable-mention All-Big Ten honors. He finished second on the team with eight pass breakups and was third on the squad with two interceptions. Reid also garnered All-Big Ten honorable-mention laurels as sophomore in 2016. He spent the summer of 2017 interning at Intel in Oregon and spent this summer interning at Blizzard Entertainment in California.
The Nittany Lions' home schedule features three non-conference games and four Big Ten Conference match-ups. The Nittany Lions open the season against Idaho (Aug. 31; 3:30 p.m.), Buffalo (Sept. 7; 7:30 p.m.) and the 100th all-time meeting with Pittsburgh (Sept. 14; noon) in non-conference action. In Big Ten play, Penn State welcomes Purdue (Oct. 5; noon), Michigan (Oct. 19), Indiana (Nov. 15) and Rutgers (Nov. 30) to Happy Valley.
For information on joining the Nittany Lion Club and reserving new season tickets for the 2019 Penn State Football season presented by PSECU, as well as club seating in Beaver Stadium, fans can visit www.PSUnrivaled.com, call 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. or visit the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office weekdays from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
More than 4,300 new season tickets have already been sold for the 2019 campaign.
