James Franklin addresses 2022 union discussions within locker room

The 2022 season saw a huge potential distraction for James Franklin and his Penn State Nittany Lions. There were conversations about unionizing going on within the locker room.

Now, Franklin has addressed those union discussions within the locker room. For him, it all started with communication.

“I think the biggest thing in anything is communication, is communication,” James Franklin emphasized.

“So, having some very honest, thoughtful conversations from both sides and both directions. I think, ultimately, the way that thing played out is I think there could have been a little bit better communication, obviously, but once we were able to, I think Sean [Clifford] and others realize that ultimately I want what’s best for them, I want what’s best for our program, I want what’s best for college football, and I want what’s best for the student-athletes. I truly do, and we were able to have some really good conversations.”

At the time that there was a discussion about unionization, James Franklin praised players but never went into any details. That push was publicly led by quarterback Sean Clifford. This was due to his involvement with College Football Player’s Association and reports that they were looking to unionize.

This led to conversations between Sean Clifford and Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, as well as members of the Penn State community. He later released a statement to clarify his position, saying he wasn’t having conversations on behalf of a union.

“And, I think, the other thing that became obvious was also that I wanted to make sure that they were protected, too. So, these things are challenging, they’re difficult conversations to have but I think they’re important, and the way I describe it a little bit on a team, whether it’s a very challenging morning workout or whether it’s a potentially divisive conversation, a team and a family are very similar,” Franklin said.

“Every time you get through some type of adversity, whether it’s a challenging physical thing like a winter workout like a morning workout, or whether it is a tough topic that you need to work through together, every time you get through those things as a family, every time you get through those things as a team, it brings you closer together.”

Penn State, it should be pointed out, isn’t the only Big Ten school in history to have talks of unionization in its football program. Northwestern has also flirted with it in the past.

“And we were able to take a challenging topic and subject matter and work through it, and I think in a lot of ways it probably helped us,” James Franklin concluded.

Ultimately, these union discussions weren’t a huge distraction. Penn State won the Rose Bowl, despite losses to Michigan and Ohio State.

James Franklin on a quarterback competition

With Sean Clifford moving on, most people assume Drew Allar will take over as the next Penn State quarterback. However, a quarterback competition is still possible and James Franklin broke down the dynamics of a quarterback competition.

“In a perfect world, you’d love to have a little bit more experience and a little bit more age in that room. But at the end of the day, it’s about talent, and I think we’re talented in that room. I think the challenge of the transfer portal — I think you can do it and I think there’s some options that we can look at and are still open to — but I wouldn’t say based on how that room looks that may be its attractive to a lot of the quarterbacks out there that we would want to bring in,” Franklin said.

“We’ll see how that thing plays out but you never know. We’d be we’d be open obviously at every single position to try to bringing some guys in.”