Couple of notes from Penn State's open practice session Wednesday evening here on campus.
1) Let's just go right through the injury stuff right off the bat.
Saquon Barkley was again dressed for practice. So was Akeel Lynch. We did not see either of them take a rep.
Angelo Mangiro was back in practice and we did see him take light reps. Andrew Nelson last but not least also was again practicing.
2) Speculation about the status for these guys is exactly what he wants. It's not about who is playing, it's about forcing opponents to have to prepare for the possibility that a kid will play. So when the information is definitive that a kid is out, that takes that player off the opponent's list of things to prepare for.
"I don't think it factors in a whole lot. If it's your starting quarterback and you have an inexperienced guy behind, it probably weighs in. Most other positions you have the depth and you have multiple guys that have played, so you just kind of move along and you're hopeful that you're going to get good news. But I think it probably shows up more if it's a position where that guy has played almost every rep and the guy behind him hasn't had a whole lot of experience," he said. "Then it'd probably be a little bit nerve-wracking waiting for the decision. And that's where you might even say to the doctors, I need to know Wednesday because I can't wait any longer past that. He's either going to be ready to go or not and we need to plan if he's not going to be available. Especially if there's two different approaches."
With that in mind, he compared the Barkley situation to unwrapping a present Christmas morning, that we'll all just find out on Saturday night, but the anticipation is a lot like Christmas. Then, in a funny move as he was walking away from the pack of reporters, he told us that if we remember, there were occasional Christmas mornings in which you'd unwrap the present and not like what you saw.
"The doctors have made a decision," Franklin said, offering nothing more. "Akeel took reps. And you guys, since you guys love this stuff, Adam Breneman took a much larger amount of reps at practice today."
I don't have a bet for you guys one way or another right now. Non-inside information suggests to me that he will play. I'll have a better idea Friday, I think.
3) Just a couple more notes, as always they did goal line work at the end of practice which we were allowed to see. Both Mark Allen and Nick Scott had shifty, nice runs. I'll get to this thought more momentarily, but Franklin kind of talked about quarterback being the one position where it would be more important to know by Wednesday whether or not the starter could go because they'd have to dramatically shift plans after that.
A few more notes from Franklin:
4) Music and crowd noise was absolutely blasting at practice. Maybe the loudest I've heard it simulated in the time I've been around the program. Franklin said his team has handled it well at practice this week:
"We're trying to make it louder than we anticipate it being on Saturday. I think our guys have handled it extremely well, so that's important."
5) Tommy Stevens is repping on the scout team and duplicating Ohio State's two different looks as much as he can.
"Obviously Tommy Stevens is an athletic guy, so we feel like he can do both. Last year, we sent Trace down a couple of times when we were facing a guy like that," Franklin said. "The good part is the type of guys we're recruiting right now with Trace and Tommy Stevens, they're guys that I think have the ability to give similar looks, whether it's a drop back guy - Tommy is 6-foot-4, but he also has the ability to pull it down and take off and run around. I think that gives you some flexibility, which is what we're trying to look for in recruiting, but it also shows up when it helps on scout team as well."
1) Let's just go right through the injury stuff right off the bat.
Saquon Barkley was again dressed for practice. So was Akeel Lynch. We did not see either of them take a rep.
Angelo Mangiro was back in practice and we did see him take light reps. Andrew Nelson last but not least also was again practicing.
2) Speculation about the status for these guys is exactly what he wants. It's not about who is playing, it's about forcing opponents to have to prepare for the possibility that a kid will play. So when the information is definitive that a kid is out, that takes that player off the opponent's list of things to prepare for.
"I don't think it factors in a whole lot. If it's your starting quarterback and you have an inexperienced guy behind, it probably weighs in. Most other positions you have the depth and you have multiple guys that have played, so you just kind of move along and you're hopeful that you're going to get good news. But I think it probably shows up more if it's a position where that guy has played almost every rep and the guy behind him hasn't had a whole lot of experience," he said. "Then it'd probably be a little bit nerve-wracking waiting for the decision. And that's where you might even say to the doctors, I need to know Wednesday because I can't wait any longer past that. He's either going to be ready to go or not and we need to plan if he's not going to be available. Especially if there's two different approaches."
With that in mind, he compared the Barkley situation to unwrapping a present Christmas morning, that we'll all just find out on Saturday night, but the anticipation is a lot like Christmas. Then, in a funny move as he was walking away from the pack of reporters, he told us that if we remember, there were occasional Christmas mornings in which you'd unwrap the present and not like what you saw.
"The doctors have made a decision," Franklin said, offering nothing more. "Akeel took reps. And you guys, since you guys love this stuff, Adam Breneman took a much larger amount of reps at practice today."
I don't have a bet for you guys one way or another right now. Non-inside information suggests to me that he will play. I'll have a better idea Friday, I think.
3) Just a couple more notes, as always they did goal line work at the end of practice which we were allowed to see. Both Mark Allen and Nick Scott had shifty, nice runs. I'll get to this thought more momentarily, but Franklin kind of talked about quarterback being the one position where it would be more important to know by Wednesday whether or not the starter could go because they'd have to dramatically shift plans after that.
A few more notes from Franklin:
4) Music and crowd noise was absolutely blasting at practice. Maybe the loudest I've heard it simulated in the time I've been around the program. Franklin said his team has handled it well at practice this week:
"We're trying to make it louder than we anticipate it being on Saturday. I think our guys have handled it extremely well, so that's important."
5) Tommy Stevens is repping on the scout team and duplicating Ohio State's two different looks as much as he can.
"Obviously Tommy Stevens is an athletic guy, so we feel like he can do both. Last year, we sent Trace down a couple of times when we were facing a guy like that," Franklin said. "The good part is the type of guys we're recruiting right now with Trace and Tommy Stevens, they're guys that I think have the ability to give similar looks, whether it's a drop back guy - Tommy is 6-foot-4, but he also has the ability to pull it down and take off and run around. I think that gives you some flexibility, which is what we're trying to look for in recruiting, but it also shows up when it helps on scout team as well."
