James Franklin believes Tyler Warren is 'one of the greatest tight ends in college football history'

James Franklin called Penn State tight end Tyler Warren one of the greatest to play the position in college football history.

When asked about the impact of players on the program, particularly going into the CFP semifinal with the knowledge that it could be their last game, Franklin praised Warren. If there’s one guy who left it all out on the field, it was the Nittany Lion TE.

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But playing the last game of his college career? Franklin said that mindset wasn’t going around going into the Orange Bowl.

“We didn’t approach it that way. It was a 65 play season. Averaged 65 plays on offense, 65 plays on defense, and about 27 on special teams in a game,” Franklin said. “And how you approach and treasure those 65 plays gives you an opportunity to play another 65 plays. That’s the hard part. Like Tyler Warren, big gangly kid from Virginia that we recruited as a basketball player and was committed to another school at quarterback, and he shows up here and will go down as one of the greatest tight ends in college football history.”

Warren reeled in six catches for 75 yards and ran twice for 21 yards in the loss to the Irish. He finished his season with 104 catches for 1,233 yards, eight touchdowns and 11.9 yards per catch.

Warren also ran 26 times for 218 yards and four touchdowns.

“Pretty cool to watch his total development, graduate from Penn State, just get better,” Franklin said of Warren. “Should be the first tight end taken in the draft. Just had a phenomenal experience. I’m proud of him because he’s up to like 27 words at Penn State. He hasn’t really said anything.”

Perhaps those 27 words will get him to a high spot in the NFL Draft come April. Still, it has to sting knowing that college football fans won’t be treated to Warren, who stands above all according to Franklin.

“Could not be more proud of these two young men that are sitting next to me and really all those guys in that locker room,” Franklin said. “We played our tails off tonight and really played our tails off all season. Obviously we need to give Notre Dame and Marcus a ton of credit. They did a great job. We knew it was going to be a fourth quarter game, come down to a possession, and that’s exactly what happened.

“Give Notre Dame a ton of credit. I wish them the best of luck moving on to the National Championship. But I love every guy in that locker room. I love every person in that locker room. Proud of them. Played our tails off tonight. Obviously we made too many mistakes that were costly. Give Notre Dame credit. We’ll learn from this, and we’ll be better.”