James Franklin details how he tries to prepare young players for fame, success

Saquon Barkley, Chris Godwin, and Micah Parsons are just a few of the names that Penn State head coach James Franklin has coached over the years that made an immediate impact as soon as they showed up to Happy Valley. Running back Nick Singleton seems to be the next in line for the Nittany Lions, and Franklin talked about young players dealing with the attention that comes with early success.

“I think a lot of these young players are more prepared for this type of stuff than ever before just with the way media coverage has changed, the way social media has changed, the opportunities some of these high profile young players get when it comes to travel or all-star games or exposure that you really didn’t have before,” Franklin explained. “At least not on this level in my mind, from a national perspective, it may happen locally.”

Franklin also spoke on how he caters to his players and tries to make things easier for them in that department, and uses the offseason to keep them up to speed on life outside of the white lines.

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“So I think they’re more prepared for that, I think some of the policies that we have in place I think help, because it takes some things off their plate. I know you guys don’t always necessarily agree with that, but it takes some things off their plate,” Franklin said to the media. “And then we try to do things in the summer and throughout the year where we’re educating them and preparing them for life after football, for life outside of football, and trying to prepare them for as many things that will come. Trying to include the parents in the process too so they can be helpful.”

Singleton has burst onto the scene for Penn State, starting off his freshman campaign with a bang rushing for 334 yards and four touchdowns in his first three collegiate games. Numbers like that garner a lot of attention, especially at Penn State, but Franklin said Singleton’s personality doesn’t fuse with the hype.

“But I think right now Nick’s handling things pretty well, I also think that is a little bit his personality, like the players kind of give him a hard time because after he scores a touchdown or something they say he has like no swag, he just no swag all substance, doesn’t wear gloves, they love to give him a hard time. But it doesn’t like phase him, we’ve been counting I think he’s said 17 words since he’s been at Penn State,” Franklin joked. “He’s very steady Eddie, very level headed.”

Singleton seems more old school with his approach to his newfound fame, which Franklin also attributes to his upbringing, as he looks to continue his dominant freshman campaign.

“He doesn’t get too high, he doesn’t get too low, and I think kind of how he was raised with his family as well as the program he came from, Governor Mifflin, have done a really good job in preparing him for this as well. And I think the relationships that he has built with our staff has helped with that as well, so so far so good,” Franklin said.