BTN camp tour show

[Zone-Blitz]

In case you missed it, you didn’t miss much. No real insight into the team other than things you already knew.

Talked about YGM and Parsons, then interviewed them. Typical questions, talk about leadership etc

Interviewed Hamler and Friermuth. Finally a good question was asked on who has impressed them the most thus far. Hamler said Keaton Ellis, PF said Cain and Ford. This question was not asked to Parsons and YGM.

Franklin interview was typical questions, typical responses

At the end, all 3 hosts were to say something about what they saw in practice. Griffth said Cam Brown intrigued him and then joked about his height. DiNardo was impressed with the helmet technology. And Revsine likes KJ Hamler

The only smidge of insight was a comment that Clifford was taking most of the 1st team snaps, but that he and Levis didn’t really stand out from each other. Not sure if that’s good or bad

 

[royboy]

And then back to Glen Mason in the studio.

Glen mentions how PSU is 1-4 each vs Michigan, MSU, and tOSU during the Franklin years. And then Glen shows the graphic of 1-4 vs each. And then when asked for a key to PSU's season, Glen indicates they have to do better vs Michigan, MSU, and tOSU.

We've seen posters on this board emphasize this very point to death. No worse than Glen. Ugh.

 

[Beachwineguy]

Glen’s make up looked horrible.

 

[GregInPitt]

I enjoyed the show. It looked like it was all Parsons could do to stay quiet until he was called on - had that in the zone expression on his face. Nice to see the young PSU talent get a chance on the show, as was mentioned in Hamler, Parsons, Freiermuth. They were all impressed with Parsons' physical ability and the prospect for his leap forward in impact.

And I don't have a problem with them bringing up PSU's recent record against the better teams in the B10 East. It is what it is and those game are really the next step up the ladder....

 

[ILLINOISLION]

And then back to Glen Mason in the studio.

Glen mentions how PSU is 1-4 each vs Michigan, MSU, and tOSU during the Franklin years. And then Glen shows the graphic of 1-4 vs each. And then when asked for a key to PSU's season, Glen indicates they have to do better vs Michigan, MSU, and tOSU.

We've seen posters on this board emphasize this very point to death. No worse than Glen. Ugh.

Hard to be elite when you are 3-12 against the three top teams in your division. Gotta go 2-1 against them for NINE straight years just to get back to .500!

(Or maybe 3-0 in THREE straight years.....?)

 

[royboy]

Hard to be elite when you are 3-12 against the three top teams in your division. Gotta go 2-1 against them for NINE straight years just to get back to .500!

(Or maybe 3-0 in THREE straight years.....?)

Send a note to Glen Mason on that. He'll be glad to repeat it.

 

[ILLINOISLION]

Send a note to Glen Mason on that. He'll be glad to repeat it.

Haven’t talked to Glen since his KU days!

 

[Lion8286]

Hard to be elite when you are 3-12 against the three top teams in your division. Gotta go 2-1 against them for NINE straight years just to get back to .500!

(Or maybe 3-0 in THREE straight years.....?)

Good one!!

 

[BBHorn86]

Although it is obvious we need to be .500 at worst against OSU, UM and MSU not many other teams in the league are beating up on them consistently either and those teams didn't have to deal with the sanctions bull crap we did. We've had bad breaks and weak performances repeatedly against UM and MSU and that must stop. We've had OSU on the ropes the past two years but failed to deliver the knock out punch. Strangely we probably should have lost to them in 2016 but beat them in 2017 and 2018. If we are still winning only one out of every four meetings with these three over the next 3-5 years I'm guessing Franklin is on the hot seat if not already moved on. That said, I don't expect that to be the case. Dantonio is a great coach but our recruiting should be consistently better, Harbaugh is not likely to fully abandon his 1980s offensive schemes and Ryan Day is not Urban Meyer so the opportunity to take the next step is at hand. Franklin needs to make it happen.

By the way Glen, what was your coaching record against OSU, UM and MSU? That's what I thought.

 

[Obliviax]

Hard to be elite when you are 3-12 against the three top teams in your division. Gotta go 2-1 against them for NINE straight years just to get back to .500!

(Or maybe 3-0 in THREE straight years.....?)

Agree but three of those years were sanction affected. This is a big year; can CJF sustain a program in the post Barkley era?

 

[Judge Smails]

Although it is obvious we need to be .500 at worst against OSU, UM and MSU not many other teams in the league are beating up on them consistently either and those teams didn't have to deal with the sanctions bull crap we did. We've had bad breaks and weak performances repeatedly against UM and MSU and that must stop. We've had OSU on the ropes the past two years but failed to deliver the knock out punch. Strangely we probably should have lost to them in 2016 but beat them in 2017 and 2018. If we are still winning only one out of every four meetings with these three over the next 3-5 years I'm guessing Franklin is on the hot seat if not already moved on. That said, I don't expect that to be the case. Dantonio is a great coach but our recruiting should be consistently better, Harbaugh is not likely to fully abandon his 1980s offensive schemes and Ryan Day is not Urban Meyer so the opportunity to take the next step is at hand. Franklin needs to make it happen.

By the way Glen, what was your coaching record against OSU, UM and MSU? That's what I thought.

Glen is a Buckeye slappy. No surprise. Always homers.

 

[royboy]

I thought Revsine, Gerry DeNardo, and Howard Griffith did a good job. Revsine seemed very positive with what he saw; Cam Brown drew some raves.

Liked seeing the position coaches mic'd up and working first hand with their guys.

 

[TheGLOV]

I watched the show as well and what I found surprising was when they pointed out the PSU's offensive production - points, etc. went down last year, they felt it was due to the loss of our offensive coordinator.

No mention of Saquon Barkley not being there.

 

[SaquonCappelletti]

Everyone's a critic ...

I enjoyed the show.

 

[Victor E. Bell]

I was driving home from the 'Toona Curve game last night and their POS bus was parked in the middle of the street on U Drive. Getting around the B10 has always been something we just had to do to survive.

 

[NealPaige]

What I got out of it...wife and kids headed to the beach so I watched it twice!

Freiermuth commented on his break out players and he mentioned Levis as a "beast". He mentioned how quick he got the ball out, and what a physical specimen he is. Also mentioned Cain and Ford...Ford cuts quick.

KJ Hamler said his break out player was Keaton Ellis, tall and fast.

Watched the QBs throw the ball from their knees. Levis had a quicker release, for whatever that is worth.

The grey haired analyst, can't remember his name, said that the QBs looked pretty even to him. Sorry I can't remember his name, the Italian coach from Indiana.

My perception from the show was that Levis is the more naturally talented QB.

Howard Griffith was effusive in his praise for Cam Brown.

It looked like Zembiec was a GA, no jersey on but throwing from his knees, if it was Zembiec. That's about it.

Maybe Levis starts against Idaho? Are we really playing Idaho?

 

[NittanyOpp]

Clifford is starting, let’s cut the crap. Compete compete compete, it’s a Franklin core value. Clifford is to Trace what Levis is to Stevens, more physical specimen, even wears the back pad but Clifford has the thing you can’t teach, like Trace.

I hope they keep bringing up the record against the other 3. It’s a fact and needs to be rectified. I hope it keeps Franklin up at night doing everything he can to be a better coach. At least 4 of those games were one play away from a different outcome.

Not sure how much any of the hosts/analysts can discern from one day of practice, half of it spent at the creamery. Maybe concerning if Clifford not standing out yet but probably carries more of an edge in scrimmages and games with his experience.

Griffith loves Cam Brown, said he had a “fantastic year, last year”, must be thinking of someone else. Physical specimen, sure but has to get mental side figured out to reach potential. Shows these guys are half clueless and they are in awe of physical specimens. I’d put next to nothing in what they saw today.

Steven Gonzalez gave an awfully lazy rep on camera. Rasheed Walker came in and had 2 great reps. Seems very light on his feet and quick. Hope he’ll be special one day.

At least Franklin did say Rahne needs to step up this year, in other words. RR butt is on the line, James won’t be sinking with that ship. Clifford Parsons Hamler the leaders, pretty young, just win 8-9 and gear up for 2020.

I believe JF that Reid will be fantastic this year, got better as year went on off injury and to me 2 years ago was best player in the secondary.

Glen Mason a hack but 3-12 is a storyline that needs to be rewritten, JF wouldn’t disagree. See elite speech.

 

[BobPSU92]

I was driving home from the 'Toona Curve game last night and their POS bus was parked in the middle of the street on U Drive. Getting around the B10 has always been something we just had to do to survive.

Did you leave a banana in the tailpipe?

 

[Kiber]

Agree but three of those years were sanction affected. This is a big year; can CJF sustain a program in the post Barkley era?

There are still affects from the sanctions. I will guarantee that the staff is still breaking down perceptions about Penn State from JS and the sanctions. Just look at that show last night. They did a show dedicated to the upcoming 2019 season and within the first 20 minutes they made reference to the program getting back from the sanctions. It's getting less and less, but it's still there.

 

[Judge Smails]

What I got out of it...wife and kids headed to the beach so I watched it twice!

Freiermuth commented on his break out players and he mentioned Levis as a "beast". He mentioned how quick he got the ball out, and what a physical specimen he is. Also mentioned Cain and Ford...Ford cuts quick.

KJ Hamler said his break out player was Keaton Ellis, tall and fast.

Watched the QBs throw the ball from their knees. Levis had a quicker release, for whatever that is worth.

The grey haired analyst, can't remember his name, said that the QBs looked pretty even to him. Sorry I can't remember his name, the Italian coach from Indiana.

My perception from the show was that Levis is the more naturally talented QB.

Howard Griffith was effusive in his praise for Cam Brown.

It looked like Zembiec was a GA, no jersey on but throwing from his knees, if it was Zembiec. That's about it.

Maybe Levis starts against Idaho? Are we really playing Idaho?

They raved about the defense. Will probably be best in the Big Ten. “Elite”. Speed and length everywhere.

Did the BTN spend half the show lamenting that Haskins is gone from OSU? Oh what will they do??? He threw 50 td passes ffs. Trace had a 124 passer rating last year. We’ll figure it out.

 

[TheGLOV]

Clifford is starting, let’s cut the crap. Compete compete compete, it’s a Franklin core value. Clifford is to Trace what Levis is to Stevens, more physical specimen, even wears the back pad but Clifford has the thing you can’t teach, like Trace.

I hope they keep bringing up the record against the other 3. It’s a fact and needs to be rectified. I hope it keeps Franklin up at night doing everything he can to be a better coach. At least 4 of those games were one play away from a different outcome.

Not sure how much any of the hosts/analysts can discern from one day of practice, half of it spent at the creamery. Maybe concerning if Clifford not standing out yet but probably carries more of an edge in scrimmages and games with his experience.

Griffith loves Cam Brown, said he had a “fantastic year, last year”, must be thinking of someone else. Physical specimen, sure but has to get mental side figured out to reach potential. Shows these guys are half clueless and they are in awe of physical specimens. I’d put next to nothing in what they saw today.

Steven Gonzalez gave an awfully lazy rep on camera. Rasheed Walker came in and had 2 great reps. Seems very light on his feet and quick. Hope he’ll be special one day.

At least Franklin did say Rahne needs to step up this year, in other words. RR butt is on the line, James won’t be sinking with that ship. Clifford Parsons Hamler the leaders, pretty young, just win 8-9 and gear up for 2020.

I believe JF that Reid will be fantastic this year, got better as year went on off injury and to me 2 years ago was best player in the secondary.

Glen Mason a hack but 3-12 is a storyline that needs to be rewritten, JF wouldn’t disagree. See elite speech.

Don't tell me his mom knows the secret about baking cupcakes so your son starts??

 

[KnightSlayer]

Clifford is starting, let’s cut the crap. Compete compete compete, it’s a Franklin core value. Clifford is to Trace what Levis is to Stevens, more physical specimen, even wears the back pad but Clifford has the thing you can’t teach, like Trace.

I hope they keep bringing up the record against the other 3. It’s a fact and needs to be rectified. I hope it keeps Franklin up at night doing everything he can to be a better coach. At least 4 of those games were one play away from a different outcome.

Not sure how much any of the hosts/analysts can discern from one day of practice, half of it spent at the creamery. Maybe concerning if Clifford not standing out yet but probably carries more of an edge in scrimmages and games with his experience.

Griffith loves Cam Brown, said he had a “fantastic year, last year”, must be thinking of someone else. Physical specimen, sure but has to get mental side figured out to reach potential. Shows these guys are half clueless and they are in awe of physical specimens. I’d put next to nothing in what they saw today.

Steven Gonzalez gave an awfully lazy rep on camera. Rasheed Walker came in and had 2 great reps. Seems very light on his feet and quick. Hope he’ll be special one day.

At least Franklin did say Rahne needs to step up this year, in other words. RR butt is on the line, James won’t be sinking with that ship. Clifford Parsons Hamler the leaders, pretty young, just win 8-9 and gear up for 2020.

I believe JF that Reid will be fantastic this year, got better as year went on off injury and to me 2 years ago was best player in the secondary.

Glen Mason a hack but 3-12 is a storyline that needs to be rewritten, JF wouldn’t disagree. See elite speech.

I'm still amazed that Franklin gets heat for losing multiple games to MSU, OSU and, Mich while having 20-40 fewer scholarshop players.

 

[Richard the LIONhearted]

I don’t agree that scholarship impacts are still being felt. The transfer portal was once viewed as a dire threat and it was surmounted without much issue at all. If anything, the portal cleansed the roster of players that were brought in during the immediate post-sanction period.

Concerning 2019: the theme of excellent defense, run the ball, special teams, and let the offense learn was brought up time and again from BTN. That seems to be the consensus. Not sure if that is a winning formula anymore in CFB. Offense is king.
One thing that could help immediately would be a contested catch WR to emerge as Robinson, Hamilton, Gesicki, and Godwin did. PS has no deep threat for 50/50 balls. That could be a real ongoing issue.

 

[Judge Smails]

I don’t agree that scholarship impacts are still being felt. The transfer portal was once viewed as a dire threat and it was surmounted without much issue at all. If anything, the portal cleansed the roster of players that were brought in during the immediate post-sanction period.

Concerning 2019: the theme of excellent defense, run the ball, special teams, and let the offense learn was brought up time and again from BTN. That seems to be the consensus. Not sure if that is a winning formula anymore in CFB. Offense is king.
One thing that could help immediately would be a contested catch WR to emerge as Robinson, Hamilton, Gesicki, and Godwin did. PS has no deep threat for 50/50 balls. That could be a real ongoing issue.

The offense and QB has 5 games to figure it out. Fifth game is Purdue at home. I think you can grind out a win at home against them if you have to. We’ll find out soon enough what Clifford has. If a dog’s gonna bite, he’ll bite as a pup. He needs to be good in a night game @ Iowa.

 

[chiro31]

I’ll be honest I thought it was pretty vanilla. Didn’t get much out of it, other than the fact that Glenn Mason is a wet blanket. They spent very little time on the offense aside from Hamler and TE.

 

[PSU_1991]

They mentioned that the team will scrimmage in the stadium today for the first time during this camp.

 

[grinagrin]

Clifford is starting, let’s cut the crap. Compete compete compete, it’s a Franklin core value. Clifford is to Trace what Levis is to Stevens, more physical specimen, even wears the back pad but Clifford has the thing you can’t teach, like Trace.

I hope they keep bringing up the record against the other 3. It’s a fact and needs to be rectified. I hope it keeps Franklin up at night doing everything he can to be a better coach. At least 4 of those games were one play away from a different outcome.

Not sure how much any of the hosts/analysts can discern from one day of practice, half of it spent at the creamery. Maybe concerning if Clifford not standing out yet but probably carries more of an edge in scrimmages and games with his experience.

Griffith loves Cam Brown, said he had a “fantastic year, last year”, must be thinking of someone else. Physical specimen, sure but has to get mental side figured out to reach potential. Shows these guys are half clueless and they are in awe of physical specimens. I’d put next to nothing in what they saw today.

Steven Gonzalez gave an awfully lazy rep on camera. Rasheed Walker came in and had 2 great reps. Seems very light on his feet and quick. Hope he’ll be special one day.

At least Franklin did say Rahne needs to step up this year, in other words. RR butt is on the line, James won’t be sinking with that ship. Clifford Parsons Hamler the leaders, pretty young, just win 8-9 and gear up for 2020.

I believe JF that Reid will be fantastic this year, got better as year went on off injury and to me 2 years ago was best player in the secondary.

Glen Mason a hack but 3-12 is a storyline that needs to be rewritten, JF wouldn’t disagree. See elite speech.

No where did CJF say or state that Rahne needs to step up this year. I kinda wish he did.

 

[interrobang]

Franklin said he expects a big improvement from rahne this year.

 

[mikemauti42]

And then back to Glen Mason in the studio.

Glen mentions how PSU is 1-4 each vs Michigan, MSU, and tOSU during the Franklin years. And then Glen shows the graphic of 1-4 vs each. And then when asked for a key to PSU's season, Glen indicates they have to do better vs Michigan, MSU, and tOSU.

We've seen posters on this board emphasize this very point to death. No worse than Glen. Ugh.

Throw the first 2 years out the window due to the sanctions. He had no chance to compete on the same level as those teams those years.

That leaves 3-6. Dig deeper and realize 4 of those games were lost late in the game when all they needed was one play to win each of them and he could be 7-2. He has put this team in a great position in a very short time. This team is inches away

 

[kentuckycb]

Throw the first 2 years out the window due to the sanctions. He had no chance to compete on the same level as those teams those years.

That leaves 3-6. Dig deeper and realize 4 of those games were lost late in the game when all they needed was one play to win each of them and he could be 7-2. He has put this team in a great position in a very short time. This team is inches away

Exactly...that’s the problem with talking heads. They never take the extra 30 seconds to put any stat in context.

 

[Connorpozlee]

I didn’t see the show. Was there actual tackling at the practice they were observing? If Cam Brown can impress with actual tackling I would consider that a major step forward. Otherwise, I would consider it the same old thing with Brown.

 

[BBrown]

I didn’t see the show. Was there actual tackling at the practice they were observing? If Cam Brown can impress with actual tackling I would consider that a major step forward. Otherwise, I would consider it the same old thing with Brown.

IDK. Howard Griffith is the one guy out of all of them that is pretty straight forward, no agenda or hyperbole. I was listening to a Steve Jones podcast the other day and Jack Ham also had good things to say about Cam.
We’ll find out pretty soon...we’ll in the second half

 

[cjflyfish]

Who was going to be the starting qb was an obvious talking point. I didn't understand Griffith's love for Cam but as stated above he's usually pretty straight forward. So maybe he saw something there. Let's hope. Franklin was pretty positive about how things were going so far. I don't remember him talking like that in years past. I could be wrong. He was pretty excited about the potential of the special teams and expects big things. During the offense line drills, Rasheed Walker towered over everyone. I have high hopes for him. They raved about our defense. Mason spoke the truth but he still a tool.

 

[Sooner Lion]

I'm still amazed that Franklin gets heat for losing multiple games to MSU, OSU and, Mich while having 20-40 fewer scholarshop players.

It's not that he lost multiple games to MSU, tOSU and Michigan. It's they way we lost them. With just average game day coaching, Franklin would be 7-8, not 3-12.

 

[Connorpozlee]

IDK. Howard Griffith is the one guy out of all of them that is pretty straight forward, no agenda or hyperbole. I was listening to a Steve Jones podcast the other day and Jack Ham also had good things to say about Cam.
We’ll find out pretty soon...we’ll in the second half

Agreed on Griffith. I certainly hope something clicks with Brown. He has the physical ability to do it.

 

[cyrizzle]

I don’t agree that scholarship impacts are still being felt. The transfer portal was once viewed as a dire threat and it was surmounted without much issue at all. If anything, the portal cleansed the roster of players that were brought in during the immediate post-sanction period.

Concerning 2019: the theme of excellent defense, run the ball, special teams, and let the offense learn was brought up time and again from BTN. That seems to be the consensus. Not sure if that is a winning formula anymore in CFB. Offense is king.
One thing that could help immediately would be a contested catch WR to emerge as Robinson, Hamilton, Gesicki, and Godwin did. PS has no deep threat for 50/50 balls. That could be a real ongoing issue.

Hopefully Shorter or Daniel George can fill that void this season.

 

[YYZ86]

It's not that he lost multiple games to MSU, tOSU and Michigan. It's they way we lost them. With just average game day coaching, Franklin would be 7-8, not 3-12.

What changes would you make?

 

[NittanyLionRoar]

I didn’t see the show. Was there actual tackling at the practice they were observing? If Cam Brown can impress with actual tackling I would consider that a major step forward. Otherwise, I would consider it the same old thing with Brown.

No, in fact they (anchors and CJF) specifically said, "this isn't like the old days" in response to there being no tackling during practice. They spent a few minutes talking about player safety and how modern practice is mostly drills and simulation. They'll finally get to tackle in the scrimmage today, but even the scrimmage is very controlled and won't have near the amount of hitting as a game.

 

[BobPSU92]

There are still affects from the sanctions. I will guarantee that the staff is still breaking down perceptions about Penn State from JS and the sanctions. Just look at that show last night. They did a show dedicated to the upcoming 2019 season and within the first 20 minutes they made reference to the program getting back from the sanctions. It's getting less and less, but it's still there.

Penn State enters 2019 season amidst jerry sandusky scandal

 

[lein]

Hard to be elite when you are 3-12 against the three top teams in your division. Gotta go 2-1 against them for NINE straight years just to get back to .500!

(Or maybe 3-0 in THREE straight years.....?)

Do you think it is fair to include the sanction and sanction recovery years in the 3-12 total?