Ji'Ayir Brown explains what it meant to make James Franklin smile with Rose Bowl win

During Big Ten media days, Penn State defensive back Ji’Ayir Brown said that he wanted to make James Franklin smile by winning the Rose Bowl. In the postgame press conference, Ji’Ayir Brown was asked about what it meant to make his coach smile by winning the Rose Bowl.

Brown smiled and checked in with James Franklin, who was sitting to his right, to make sure that he had made Franklin smile. “Oh yeah,” Franklin said.

“Since day one, since Coach recruited me, he’s been a blessing to me,” Brown said.

“He took me in, he’s made me a part of his family, and as a player that’s all you can ask for is a coach to treat you just like he treats his kids. I know Coach got a lot. The only way that I could give back to Coach is to win him a Rose Bowl and win him a championship period, and I sacrificed everything I possibly could to make that happen for him and I hope I made you smile.”

Ji’Ayir Brown came to Penn State as a three-star recruit in the Class of 2018. Over the past two seasons, Brown has 10 interceptions and 4.5 sacks.

James Franklin is proud of his leaders

After Ji’Ayir Brown finished, James Franklin stepped in to reply to him while also speaking about the great leadership that Penn State has had.

“Made me smile, but I also want to say this. In today’s college football where these players are being pulled in a thousand different directions, both Penn State and Utah had very few opt-outs in the game. We had great leadership,” Franklin said.

“Wanted to stay in the game. I pulled him out of the game–him and PJ Mustipher. I wanted Sean [Clifford] to have that opportunity. You know, he kind of hit me on the sideline. Kind of got into an argument, he didn’t want to come out of the game, but I wanted to take a moment for him to come out of the game and be recognized because Sean has experienced it all at Penn State. He really has. There’s so many good things about this game, but there’s so many good young men like Sean and PJ and I could go on and on, at a time that it’s more challenging than it has ever been. So, I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. How they conducted themselves, not just in this game but really throughout their entire careers and they’ve got great stories. They’ve got great stories and I look forward to continuing to be a part of their life and watching them go on and do great things.”

Franklin on what makes this Rose Bowl special

After the game, James Franklin also explained what made this Rose Bowl so special.

“Yeah, it’s not only there, but I also understand that it’s the 100-year anniversary of Penn State playing in this in 1923 as well. So, just so much tradition and history with this bowl. And then, obviously, (it’s) specific to Penn State,” Franklin said.

“And playing Utah. There’s not too many things in 2023 where you can say it’s never happened before; Penn State had never played Utah before. So a lot of really cool things, but most importantly, I’m so proud of these guys and how they handled themselves.”