Penn State Football
(James Franklin)
Postgame Press Conference
Blue-White Game – April 15, 2023
Q: Opening Statement
A: Overall, I thought we had a great spring. I thought that today was phenomenal. I was a little worried about the weather. Although, I would have come in here and said it was great wet ball work for us. But it cleared up. It was awesome all week long and then we had the rain this morning. I think we would have had a lot more people in the stadium, if the rain didn't scare some people off. But it was great work in the stadium, Beaver Stadium in front of fans, on TV, in a competitive environment. I thought the team was broken up to be competitive and I thought it really was. There was a lot of value in that.
Offensively, it was really good to see some young guys step up. I thought Omari (Evans) really stepped up and we need a third wideout to step up. So that was exciting to see him make some plays out there. I thought Kaden Saunders did some things and (Anthony) Ivey did some things, and Malik McClain did some things. So, we need that. Defensively I thought Dani (Dennis-Sutton) was unblockable out there. He's going to have a big year for us. I couldn't be more excited about him. I thought KJ Winston was flying all over the field. So we're just back into kind of a different place from a depth perspective, probably pre-COVID. That's been valuable. We still got some guys coming in that we're excited about. So that'll be great.
Couple other things: Punting, we got to be better. In our punting, we're basically punting on air with no rush, nothing, we should have been killing the ball. So that's something we really got to work on, between now and West Virginia. Some things we got to clean up. We had a penalty after a touchdown. I should be celebrating and telling the kid how wonderful he is. Instead, he's doing 50 Up Downs on the sideline on the Big 10 network. Not necessarily what I would want to be doing.
Overall, I thought it was darn good. So, there are my notes from everything I saw today and my conversations with Andy Mutnan just a minute ago. Looks like we came out of today healthy as well. I think you guys saw that there were some guys that weren't dressed. We anticipate all those guys being back. Just some bumps and bruises and things like that. We expect all those guys to be back and ready to go. They just weren't ready to go this spring.
Q: James. Speaking of Omari, where is he making that transition from playing a bunch of different positions in high school and with respect to the work he had to do with Chuck, how important is it to get that sort of thing out of the way now and kind of learn a lesson for a young guy?
A: Yeah, he kind of showed up and was suddenly like a track guy, you know, and now he's done a really good job in the weight room. He's strong and he's physical, and he's getting more and more confident day by day. As you guys know, we've talked about it a lot. We need somebody to step up in that third wide receiver role. For the last week and a half, we moved him into that spot and obviously today was something to build on. There's no doubt about it. He's got all the tools. We got to grind through it and continue to get him good at his craft because to your point, he mainly played quarterback in high school and was mainly like an athletic quarterback but he's excited. We have the talent in the room, currently in the room. We just got to grind through it, and we can't throw enough. Our quarterbacks, wide receivers, tight ends, running backs, we cannot throw enough all summer. And I do think, having the weight room now that we didn't have last year, having Holuba wide open all summer no matter what the weather is to be able to throw is going to be really valuable for us.
Q: Looking at everything you've seen over 15 practices so far, are there any positions you feel like you need to attack during the spring portal window? And how will that if at all change the way you guys operate with the evaluation period as well?
A: Like I mentioned, we're in a good place right now. But I think we need some more depth and more competition at D-Tackle. I think we need some more depth and competition at wide receiver, because I do think we could get by West Virginia or by game four or game five, I think we could have six guys that we feel good about. But it's not competitive right now. We're trying to figure out who the third is, although a guy stepped up today. I want there to be legitimate competition at every position. And then besides that, we will not turn down a great player at any position. So, the coaches were talking about how the phones are buzzing. It's all over the place right now. It's crazy. I addressed it with our team in the locker room afterwards. But those two positions specifically, and then a great difference maker in any position.
Q: Golden (Israel-Achumba) singing the national anthem. That was a pretty cool thing. How did that come about and what are your thoughts about it?
A: As you guys know, our guys are more than just football players. They have other talents. They have other skills and interests, and hobbies. If you're a new person on our team, staff, or player you have to get up and dance and sing, everybody. Hunter Nourzad has talked about that if he would have known he had to do that, he would not have come to Penn State. Extreme anxiety about getting up in front of the group. But it's been something that's been fun and that's how we identified Golden and his talents. A lot of times when the new person up there stinks, the room will start chaining for somebody good to go up. And Golden's not afraid to go up. He's done some things on campus as well. So, we thought it'd be cool if it does. It doesn't surprise me that he did a good job with it. He's a talented dude.
Q: Drew had the nifty little side arm pass. He also has a kind of a lazer 19 yarder to Omari. What are some things that he can do just in terms of his physical skills to make a play, even if maybe it doesn't necessarily look like it's there. And how do you balance that with him needing a little bit more consistency?
A: Yeah, I think that's what I was talking about earlier when I said we can't throw enough. We need more wide outs to compete at a high level and I'm not talking about even from outside. We need six guys that we feel like we could win the Big 10 with. And I think we have six guys on our current roster that could do it, but they got to step up. So, they can't throw enough whether it's on air, or whether it's seven on seven against the defense that they're doing on their own. They just can't throw enough to build that consistency and that chemistry. In a lot of ways like Sean (Clifford) and Jahan Dotson had a couple of years ago. They got to build that chemistry. He's got to build it with multiple guys and between our tight ends and wide receivers I think we could be effective. I will also say this. I keep bringing up that third wide receiver. They're not just competing with wide receivers because just like last year, if our second-best tight end is better than our third wide receiver, then we're going to be in more 12 personnel. Although, we'd like to be an 11 personnel team if we could. But we're going to play to our strengths and if our tight end room is our strength, then those guys will be on the field. Ty Howle will be happy, and Marques Hagans will be sad. But the fans will be happy.
Q: Before spring practice began, you expressed a concern about the leadership on this team. Where do you see it coming from now and through spring practice and can the running backs be a part of it?
A: Yes. I think what I said is our leadership will be different this year. Last year we had veteran, strong leaders that have been around forever. We had guys that had been multiple year captains. So, it's obviously something that we need to be aware of. But, it's going to be different than it was last year. Instead of there being four to six really strong voices in the locker room, there may be 12 to 16 that aren't as strong as those four to six but still have the same impact spread out. We did name three captains today. We will wait until we get through training camp and then possibly add three more on offense, defense and special teams. It gives us a really good understanding of who the team sees as leaders right now going into the summer and lean on them and still leave it open to add another offense, defense and special teams.
Q: Sometimes you go into the summer with a team that feels prepackaged in the sense that you know what you've got at a lot of positions and you've got answers to things. Sometimes you go into the summer and you feel like you have a lot of talent, but you have to grow into it. How are those different in terms of the next couple months? When you have a team that you feel like has talent but maybe has to grow into it, how do you approach that?
A: The coaches and the players, we have to be very intentional about what we do between now and West Virginia. They need to have a personal plan. What do I need to get better at? What do I do well? What do I need to work on to be a more complete player? Monday and Tuesday, all day, the players will be meeting with their position coaches. They will get feedback from their position coaches, the coaches will get feedback from the players. We have them fill out a document beforehand to come in, answer some questions. There is some questions for the position coach to discuss with them. So, they get really good feedback from their position coach. The strength coaches are all broken down, they have a position on offense and defense. Strength coaches will do the same thing. They'll break down where they're at, where they need to focus, what they need to work on, to develop a plan. Then, as you guys know, one of my favorite things to do, and one of the things that I dislike to do is I have to meet with every single player on the team. There is a ton of value in it, but it is a grind. Whatever our number is on the roster right now, I'll meet with every single one of those players, review the document from the strength staff, review a document from the academic staff, the training staff and their position coach so they understand holistically where they're at. Then, I give them specific feedback as well. I also get feedback on the staff. What do they think about their position coach? What do they think about the coordinator? What do they think about the strength staff? That feedback is important. I kind of tally it all up. Who is your favorite staff member and why? There is a ton of information that we're able to get that is part of my evaluation process, not just for the players but for the staff. That will be a grind, but we just have to be very intentional. As coaches, as players, as individual positions, as side of the ball, and grind on this stuff. We got to go through the tape from Spring and make all the cut ups so we get off the road from spring recruiting. We'll go through the cut ups from spring ball. We'll start to come up with what our identity is going to be now on offense, defense and special teams based off of what we did well this spring. Obviously, right now, the analysts and GAs on Monday will start working on breaking down our first four opponents as well. So, there's a ton of work to be done.
Q: The way you structured the teams, the blue and the white teams, I've noticed it was freshmen and new guys versus the veterans and the stars. Are you just trying to build that chemistry up or?
A: I disagree with you. That is how I used to do it. It used to be kind of like the starters versus everyone else. This year, it wasn't that way. I tried to mix it up. I mean, I look at Dani Dennis-Sutton as a starter. He was on the other team. I can use a ton of examples. It probably doesn't look that way, when you have certain positions, a lot of you guys probably focused on the running backs. Well, when you got Nick and Kaytron on one side and then we don't have another scholarship back right now with three guys that we love and have done a nice job for us. The position that we have a legitimate 3 deep, we were good. So, I didn't look at it that way. I thought we broke the team up in a way that I thought was going to be really competitive. Look at our safeties, two really good safeties on the blue and two really good safeties on the white. You look at the defensive ends, two really good ends on the blue and two really good ends on the white. Our offensive line, we've never had two offensive lines like that, at least since I've been here. This year, it was not. In years past, it was typically ones and twos versus everybody else going to the stadium hoping to put up big numbers. Everybody's excited, offense has 7,000 yards and scored 90 points, but this was more about making it as competitive as we possibly can. But, some positions made it difficult to do that.