James Franklin says Chop Robinson not worried about facing former team

In the transfer portal era, there is a new phenomenon, some players are competing against their former teams. Every person is different, but there is obviously a chance that this affects a player’s mindset. This weekend, Penn State’s Chop Robinson is competing against Maryland, his former team. However, head coach James Franklin isn’t worried about it.

While speaking to the media, James Franklin was asked about Chop Robinson’s mentality this week and how he works with players competing against a former team.

“Yeah, we don’t really get into it a whole lot,” James Franklin said.

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“I mean, obviously it’s different the way college football is now. I mean, this would have never happened, obviously, years ago. There’s been transfers but it was always harder to do it, kind of within conference.”

As James Franklin pointed out, this is a new situation that coaches have to deal with. In the past, even when a player transferred, they would typically have to sit out a season and often couldn’t transfer within a conference. So, you rarely would play against your former team.

So, this is a new and unique situation. At the same time, you can’t blow it out of proportion and you need to focus on what’s going on during the game.

“But it really hasn’t been a whole lot of conversation. Obviously, he’ll be excited to play. They’ve got some players on their team from Pennsylvania. They’ll be motivated, but it hasn’t been a big conversation.”

Chop Robinson was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2021, who originally chose to attend Maryland. He spent one season there before deciding to transfer to Penn State. With the Nittany Lions, he has played in eight games and has 5.5 tackles for loss.

James Franklin on Taulia Tagovailoa

James Franklin has seen a lot of improvement in Maryland’s quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. In particular, Franklin praised Tagovailoa for his improved accuracy and decision-making ability.

“Obviously he’s always been an athletic guy and a guy that can create and extend plays, can really make all the throws,” James Franklin said. “His accuracy has gotten better. His touchdown-to-interception ratio has gotten better.”