Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Beautiful day here in Happy Valley, sun out, little breeze but overall a perfect April afternoon for another Penn State football practice.
I'm going to skip practice observations because, well, there was very little practice to see. By the time they opened the gates to practice, the team had already wrapped up the majority of its third-team goal line work and moved on to punting/kicking and returns.
I will say, Saquon Barkley was back with the returners today, which was a change from what we've seen at other times this spring. Other returners included Nick Scott, Josh McPhearson, Brandon Polk (pads today) and KJ Hamler was also back there. Positive sign to see Polk in action.
So with that in mind, let's move on to James Franklin's session with the media. Posted from Penn State's live Facebook stream below:
I'll just start in on some of my impressions and feedback on what he had to say.
1) He thought it was important, so let's just clear up what he started with from the top.
James did not barge into a class to get his players in line and up to sit in the front of the class, as had been posted on social media a few times. Yes, he did tell them to move to the front of the class, but he was already there as a guest speaker.
OK. The record is now settled. Wasn't crashing, was a guest speaker.
2) Obviously, you guys don't care about any of that. So let's get into the meat of the football discussion.
First real question was about the guard position, and once again Mike Miranda got the shoutout.
"I think Miranda is probably standing out and that's basically because we didn't know what to expect," said Franklin. "The other guys are doing a really good job. Miranda is just standing out because you just never know what to expect from a guy who was supposed to still be in high school, so he's doing a good job and the other guys are doing a good job as well."
Just to keep things in perspective here, I don't think anyone is suggesting that Miranda is really competing for a starting job in August. Franklin mentioned last week and this week about having to do some rearranging due to injuries this spring, and Miranda's jumping in with two feet has everything to do with other absences along the offensive line that have allowed for that.
3) Franklin touched a little bit also on some of the broader areas of progress that he felt like the team had made this spring and had pretty positive things to say. And really, it went back to the work that they felt like they had done in the winter doing studies.
"The defense is I think is really way ahead. We did some good off-season studies and I think we have a few nice little new wrinkles in there," said Franklin. "Then offensively same thing. A bunch of off-season studies, a bunch of conversations with different people, studying the things that we do. What can we do that's complementary to what we're already going and then a few more wrinkles so I think its been really good."
When the media met with Trace McSorley a little later, he downplayed the idea that there were any significant wrinkles in the offense in the sense that it had been revolutionized from last season, but instead just said that a lot of what's been done this spring has been about perfecting what they did last season and making improvements on it. The fact that they're in year two as opposed to year one has everything to do with that, and when you're starting on the second floor instead of the basement, building up is a lot easier.
4) He didn't come out and outright acknowledge it, but Franklin's comments about Christian Campbell were really the first concession he made to the reality of losing John Reid. After really highlighting the maturation that Campbell has made since the end of last season and some of the athletic attributes that he brings to the table, Franklin said this.
"Obviously he's going to have a little bit more of a significant role this year. He's going to get a few more reps."
To be clear, the program itself has not yet acknowledged the severity or nature of Reid's injury. Usually they do so when it's guaranteed to be season-ending, which is what it is expected to be.
5) Kyle Vasey looks like he's in line to be the new snapper, and Blake Gillikin and Billy Fessler are battling it out to be the holder.
6) Franklin was actually talking about Trace McSorley, and transitioned into Tommy Stevens because the question was about McSorley's physical development, but I do think it's worth noting this is the second time that Franklin has brought up Jake Zembiec and some of the "getting bigger" issues that have arisen since his arrival at Penn State last summer.
"Jake has been a guy who we've had a lot of conversations about getting him with a nutritionist and kind of looking at some things because he's one of our hardest working guys in the weight room but he just hasn't developed the same way as other guys have for whatever reason. We have to figure that out. We have to navigate what he needs to kind of get a little more growth in his body because that's going to help his arm strength," he said. "Everybody focuses on just the arm but if you look at it a lot of times its their throwing platform. Are they getting that foot in the ground? Almost like a pitcher on the rubber. He's driving that foot into the ground and driving off the rubber. It's the same thing with a quarterback. The more powerful you are in your lower body the more force you'll be able to create, so I think that's an area that I really think he can improve."
7) Franklin is looking to make the Blue White Game more competitive this year and give themselves a better opportunity for evaluation by having the ones against the twos, and more in tact teams instead of mixing them up like they had been in past years.
8) Franklin actually brought something up that was pretty interesting when given some context. He talked about the war path he's been on to get the defense to start working with the jugs machine to practice catching the ball. As opposed to the wideouts and tight ends and running backs that spend so much time working on just that movement of catching the ball, the defense traditionally has not done that as much and his argument is that the turnover numbers would really improve if they did.
He's probably not wrong. I was kind of surprised doing a Marcus Allen story this past week to learn that he doesn't have a career interception despite three full years of action. Last year, linebacker Brandon Smith was only guy at Penn State to finish among the individuals with the most interceptions in the conference in conference play, and he had two. As a team, in the Big Ten only, Penn State finished next to last in interceptions with five total. As a secondary, for the entire 14 game season, they only had six combined interceptions.
In other words, it's an area of obvious area for improvement for this group especially considering its obvious talent level.
"We've talked a lot about if we want to really improve in turnovers, which I think is an area we can really improve in, we have to invest in it. The more confident our defensive players are in catching the ball, the more willing they're going to go for the pick rather than the PBU. That's something I've been preaching a lot and it's something for Grant and all those guys, if we can increase our turnover ratio and doing a better job with picks and stuff like that – I'm not talking about making unbelievable catches. Just catch the ones we're supposed to then it's going to really help us. Because I think you can take a good defense and become great, or a great defense and become elite by just making that change. If we did nothing different but increased our turnovers next year it would have a dramatic impact on our defense and it would have a dramatic impact obviously on our offense as well."
I'm going to leave it at that. But, additional time was given with Trace McSorley and Grant Haley after Franklin.
Video of Trace, below:
I'm going to skip practice observations because, well, there was very little practice to see. By the time they opened the gates to practice, the team had already wrapped up the majority of its third-team goal line work and moved on to punting/kicking and returns.
I will say, Saquon Barkley was back with the returners today, which was a change from what we've seen at other times this spring. Other returners included Nick Scott, Josh McPhearson, Brandon Polk (pads today) and KJ Hamler was also back there. Positive sign to see Polk in action.
So with that in mind, let's move on to James Franklin's session with the media. Posted from Penn State's live Facebook stream below:
I'll just start in on some of my impressions and feedback on what he had to say.
1) He thought it was important, so let's just clear up what he started with from the top.
James did not barge into a class to get his players in line and up to sit in the front of the class, as had been posted on social media a few times. Yes, he did tell them to move to the front of the class, but he was already there as a guest speaker.
OK. The record is now settled. Wasn't crashing, was a guest speaker.
2) Obviously, you guys don't care about any of that. So let's get into the meat of the football discussion.
First real question was about the guard position, and once again Mike Miranda got the shoutout.
"I think Miranda is probably standing out and that's basically because we didn't know what to expect," said Franklin. "The other guys are doing a really good job. Miranda is just standing out because you just never know what to expect from a guy who was supposed to still be in high school, so he's doing a good job and the other guys are doing a good job as well."
Just to keep things in perspective here, I don't think anyone is suggesting that Miranda is really competing for a starting job in August. Franklin mentioned last week and this week about having to do some rearranging due to injuries this spring, and Miranda's jumping in with two feet has everything to do with other absences along the offensive line that have allowed for that.
3) Franklin touched a little bit also on some of the broader areas of progress that he felt like the team had made this spring and had pretty positive things to say. And really, it went back to the work that they felt like they had done in the winter doing studies.
"The defense is I think is really way ahead. We did some good off-season studies and I think we have a few nice little new wrinkles in there," said Franklin. "Then offensively same thing. A bunch of off-season studies, a bunch of conversations with different people, studying the things that we do. What can we do that's complementary to what we're already going and then a few more wrinkles so I think its been really good."
When the media met with Trace McSorley a little later, he downplayed the idea that there were any significant wrinkles in the offense in the sense that it had been revolutionized from last season, but instead just said that a lot of what's been done this spring has been about perfecting what they did last season and making improvements on it. The fact that they're in year two as opposed to year one has everything to do with that, and when you're starting on the second floor instead of the basement, building up is a lot easier.
4) He didn't come out and outright acknowledge it, but Franklin's comments about Christian Campbell were really the first concession he made to the reality of losing John Reid. After really highlighting the maturation that Campbell has made since the end of last season and some of the athletic attributes that he brings to the table, Franklin said this.
"Obviously he's going to have a little bit more of a significant role this year. He's going to get a few more reps."
To be clear, the program itself has not yet acknowledged the severity or nature of Reid's injury. Usually they do so when it's guaranteed to be season-ending, which is what it is expected to be.
5) Kyle Vasey looks like he's in line to be the new snapper, and Blake Gillikin and Billy Fessler are battling it out to be the holder.
6) Franklin was actually talking about Trace McSorley, and transitioned into Tommy Stevens because the question was about McSorley's physical development, but I do think it's worth noting this is the second time that Franklin has brought up Jake Zembiec and some of the "getting bigger" issues that have arisen since his arrival at Penn State last summer.
"Jake has been a guy who we've had a lot of conversations about getting him with a nutritionist and kind of looking at some things because he's one of our hardest working guys in the weight room but he just hasn't developed the same way as other guys have for whatever reason. We have to figure that out. We have to navigate what he needs to kind of get a little more growth in his body because that's going to help his arm strength," he said. "Everybody focuses on just the arm but if you look at it a lot of times its their throwing platform. Are they getting that foot in the ground? Almost like a pitcher on the rubber. He's driving that foot into the ground and driving off the rubber. It's the same thing with a quarterback. The more powerful you are in your lower body the more force you'll be able to create, so I think that's an area that I really think he can improve."
7) Franklin is looking to make the Blue White Game more competitive this year and give themselves a better opportunity for evaluation by having the ones against the twos, and more in tact teams instead of mixing them up like they had been in past years.
8) Franklin actually brought something up that was pretty interesting when given some context. He talked about the war path he's been on to get the defense to start working with the jugs machine to practice catching the ball. As opposed to the wideouts and tight ends and running backs that spend so much time working on just that movement of catching the ball, the defense traditionally has not done that as much and his argument is that the turnover numbers would really improve if they did.
He's probably not wrong. I was kind of surprised doing a Marcus Allen story this past week to learn that he doesn't have a career interception despite three full years of action. Last year, linebacker Brandon Smith was only guy at Penn State to finish among the individuals with the most interceptions in the conference in conference play, and he had two. As a team, in the Big Ten only, Penn State finished next to last in interceptions with five total. As a secondary, for the entire 14 game season, they only had six combined interceptions.
In other words, it's an area of obvious area for improvement for this group especially considering its obvious talent level.
"We've talked a lot about if we want to really improve in turnovers, which I think is an area we can really improve in, we have to invest in it. The more confident our defensive players are in catching the ball, the more willing they're going to go for the pick rather than the PBU. That's something I've been preaching a lot and it's something for Grant and all those guys, if we can increase our turnover ratio and doing a better job with picks and stuff like that – I'm not talking about making unbelievable catches. Just catch the ones we're supposed to then it's going to really help us. Because I think you can take a good defense and become great, or a great defense and become elite by just making that change. If we did nothing different but increased our turnovers next year it would have a dramatic impact on our defense and it would have a dramatic impact obviously on our offense as well."
I'm going to leave it at that. But, additional time was given with Trace McSorley and Grant Haley after Franklin.
Video of Trace, below:
