Penn State football hosted media members Thursday afternoon for an informal luncheon and bar-be-que at the Lasch Building, basically a nice off-season, no pressure way to have some fellowship as working professionals on a human-to-human basis.
I brought my dad, plenty of people brought spouses, and it was just generally a very nice event that they've continued to host throughout the decade-plus I've been around the program.
Following the event, though, head coach James Franklin offered up more than half an hour of looser conversation for some insights into the team and program as it progresses through the summer months. Though it wasn't video recorded, we were permitted to use his comments on the record about the different topics that he brought up and then were asked of him through the span.
Basically, a bit like the Coaches Caravan that used to be so fruitful the past few years, it was just a little bit of a relaxed look at where the program is in his eyes.
So, I'm going to be able to get more to you guys in the coming days from the session in terms of elaboration, but for the time being I wanted to post a little bit of a rundown of some of the topics that were discussed and some of his thoughts on them.
As is pretty standard with Franklin, he was very positive, but not over the top by any means. He started out with some of his feelings about the excitement of the arrival of the true freshman class coming in this weekend and what that represents, but also would go on to note the real progress he's seen in not necessarily having to rely on that group so heavily for instant contributions the way that was needed over the past two seasons.
- One of the big offseason initiatives for Franklin was establishing better relationships with players on an individual basis. He quite literally took 50-60 players out to dinner on a night-by-night basis, he said, to different restaurants around town. The players would get to pick, and there they could get personal feedback about what’s going well, what’s not, and how to make improvements.
- He was asked very directly about the progress of the offensive line. Though it wasn't an out-and-out pep rally for the group, he did say that he is feeling like OL is taking another step closer to what they would call ideal. But, they're still not quite there yet because of reliance on redshirts for depth.
“You think about seven scholarship linemen, then nine scholarship linemen with moving the two defensive guys over, that's scary at this level," said Franklin. "I think for fans and for some media members, everybody wants to focus on the quarterback or they want to focus on the running back, but it starts up front. For you to go from being a good to a great team, you need a quarterback, I don't think there's any doubt about that. But it starts up front with the O-line and D-line. It doesn't matter what offense you're running, it doesn't matter what scheme you're running. There are some offenses and some schemes that can take the pressure off that position, but you gotta have it up front. So, we're there. I think you still would like to have more seniors and juniors and redshirt sophomores making up that unit, but of all the areas, that's the one thing we're probably missing is seniors, juniors and sophomores."
- And this is an obvious next step along the same lines, but he's feeling better overall at most positions not needing true and redshirt freshmen to step right in.
“We're not relying on anymore freshmen to come in and immediately be on the two-deep,” said Franklin. “That may happen, but what's great is that may happen now because they've come in and earned it rather than just showing up on campus and automatically be in the two-deep.”
“They come here and right away, they're thrust into a position. So that natural occurrence that happens on most campuses wasn't happening over the last two years. So you have some entitlement and some other things that probably is something that we haven't had at Penn State in forever, especially when this was a program that was built on senior and junior leadership and senior and junior players.”
- In a not-so-subtle comment of his confidence in the program and its direction, Franklin said he feels really positive about the three new assistant coaches, and added that the entire staff has signed two year guaranteed contracts.
“The three new hires have been great,” said Franklin. “They've done a great job. Every single day I feel better and better about the people that we've brought in. That's no disrespect to the people that have left, but I feel very confident about the people that we've brought in.”
- He hasn’t chosen a starting quarterback, and though there’s a gap in Trace McSorley’s favor right now, he wants to give the entire team every opportunity to have fair competition in preseason camp. Trace had advantage picking up the new system, but Tommy does many things very well. He went on to explain that there was a bit of a damned if you do/don't aspect to the Blue-White Game and the reps that McSorley got with the first team, because he wants those first team units to generate some confidence, along with excitement for the fans. But, he did want Stevens to get another series in the second half, but due to an unplanned first down for Billy Fessler (he was kidding around) and the time limitations of the TV broadcast, Tommy wasn't able to get those reps.
“Is there a gap right now? Yeah, there is a gap. But now, with Tommy having the chance, with the same opportunities from spring ball to now, I want to give him that opportunity. If you talk to the guys on the team and in the program, Tommy has done some damn good things and there's excitement about it,” said Franklin. “But I think what happens and everybody just rushed to judgment based off the spring game and I don't think that's fair. So I want to give those guys a legitimate chance during camp to compete for the job. I do think there's a gap with Trace right now from my last evaluation which was basically spring. But, Tommy is a big, strong, athletic guy who does a lot of really good things. He's got a natural feel for the game. He's got a natural feel for the position."
- And, last but not least, everyone from the new class is expected to arrive this weekend, save for Tyrell Chavis, who they do expect to pass the required academic hurdles to still be able to make it at Penn State.
“They all show up on Saturday. That is one of my favorite days of the year.”
Some guys are excited, some are scared to death. Families that are excited and emotional. It’s an exciting day. They have a meeting with Franklin and they go through all of the important topics for their arrivals as freshmen - both positives and the challenges they’ll face.
******
If I find anything else of note through a second listen tomorrow, I'll post it here.
I brought my dad, plenty of people brought spouses, and it was just generally a very nice event that they've continued to host throughout the decade-plus I've been around the program.
Following the event, though, head coach James Franklin offered up more than half an hour of looser conversation for some insights into the team and program as it progresses through the summer months. Though it wasn't video recorded, we were permitted to use his comments on the record about the different topics that he brought up and then were asked of him through the span.
Basically, a bit like the Coaches Caravan that used to be so fruitful the past few years, it was just a little bit of a relaxed look at where the program is in his eyes.
So, I'm going to be able to get more to you guys in the coming days from the session in terms of elaboration, but for the time being I wanted to post a little bit of a rundown of some of the topics that were discussed and some of his thoughts on them.
As is pretty standard with Franklin, he was very positive, but not over the top by any means. He started out with some of his feelings about the excitement of the arrival of the true freshman class coming in this weekend and what that represents, but also would go on to note the real progress he's seen in not necessarily having to rely on that group so heavily for instant contributions the way that was needed over the past two seasons.
- One of the big offseason initiatives for Franklin was establishing better relationships with players on an individual basis. He quite literally took 50-60 players out to dinner on a night-by-night basis, he said, to different restaurants around town. The players would get to pick, and there they could get personal feedback about what’s going well, what’s not, and how to make improvements.
- He was asked very directly about the progress of the offensive line. Though it wasn't an out-and-out pep rally for the group, he did say that he is feeling like OL is taking another step closer to what they would call ideal. But, they're still not quite there yet because of reliance on redshirts for depth.
“You think about seven scholarship linemen, then nine scholarship linemen with moving the two defensive guys over, that's scary at this level," said Franklin. "I think for fans and for some media members, everybody wants to focus on the quarterback or they want to focus on the running back, but it starts up front. For you to go from being a good to a great team, you need a quarterback, I don't think there's any doubt about that. But it starts up front with the O-line and D-line. It doesn't matter what offense you're running, it doesn't matter what scheme you're running. There are some offenses and some schemes that can take the pressure off that position, but you gotta have it up front. So, we're there. I think you still would like to have more seniors and juniors and redshirt sophomores making up that unit, but of all the areas, that's the one thing we're probably missing is seniors, juniors and sophomores."
- And this is an obvious next step along the same lines, but he's feeling better overall at most positions not needing true and redshirt freshmen to step right in.
“We're not relying on anymore freshmen to come in and immediately be on the two-deep,” said Franklin. “That may happen, but what's great is that may happen now because they've come in and earned it rather than just showing up on campus and automatically be in the two-deep.”
“They come here and right away, they're thrust into a position. So that natural occurrence that happens on most campuses wasn't happening over the last two years. So you have some entitlement and some other things that probably is something that we haven't had at Penn State in forever, especially when this was a program that was built on senior and junior leadership and senior and junior players.”
- In a not-so-subtle comment of his confidence in the program and its direction, Franklin said he feels really positive about the three new assistant coaches, and added that the entire staff has signed two year guaranteed contracts.
“The three new hires have been great,” said Franklin. “They've done a great job. Every single day I feel better and better about the people that we've brought in. That's no disrespect to the people that have left, but I feel very confident about the people that we've brought in.”
- He hasn’t chosen a starting quarterback, and though there’s a gap in Trace McSorley’s favor right now, he wants to give the entire team every opportunity to have fair competition in preseason camp. Trace had advantage picking up the new system, but Tommy does many things very well. He went on to explain that there was a bit of a damned if you do/don't aspect to the Blue-White Game and the reps that McSorley got with the first team, because he wants those first team units to generate some confidence, along with excitement for the fans. But, he did want Stevens to get another series in the second half, but due to an unplanned first down for Billy Fessler (he was kidding around) and the time limitations of the TV broadcast, Tommy wasn't able to get those reps.
“Is there a gap right now? Yeah, there is a gap. But now, with Tommy having the chance, with the same opportunities from spring ball to now, I want to give him that opportunity. If you talk to the guys on the team and in the program, Tommy has done some damn good things and there's excitement about it,” said Franklin. “But I think what happens and everybody just rushed to judgment based off the spring game and I don't think that's fair. So I want to give those guys a legitimate chance during camp to compete for the job. I do think there's a gap with Trace right now from my last evaluation which was basically spring. But, Tommy is a big, strong, athletic guy who does a lot of really good things. He's got a natural feel for the game. He's got a natural feel for the position."
- And, last but not least, everyone from the new class is expected to arrive this weekend, save for Tyrell Chavis, who they do expect to pass the required academic hurdles to still be able to make it at Penn State.
“They all show up on Saturday. That is one of my favorite days of the year.”
Some guys are excited, some are scared to death. Families that are excited and emotional. It’s an exciting day. They have a meeting with Franklin and they go through all of the important topics for their arrivals as freshmen - both positives and the challenges they’ll face.
******
If I find anything else of note through a second listen tomorrow, I'll post it here.
