Everything James Franklin said after Penn State's Aug. 7 practice

Penn State head coach James Franklin joined reporters on Thursday evening following his Nittany Lions’ latest practice of preseason camp. With camp battles still playing out, as well as new performers emerging on both sides of the ball, he tackled a variety of questions with his observations, news, and updates.

Here is a complete transcript of James Franklin’s comments, lightly edited for clarity.

Complete James Franklin post-practice transcript

On injury situation:

It’s just unusual. Usually you start and you’re in good shape and it grows, and we’re going in the opposite direction. We’ve made some modifications to our practice. We do that every year, based on Andrew Nelson, our sports scientist’s recommendations, as well as Chuck Losey and the coaches. So I think that’s helped.

We’re out here a little bit shorter — not much shorter — but we’re out here a little bit shorter, reducing reps a little bit, not much, not significant. But yeah. So those guys just had to get cleared, and they’ve cleared. So we’re going in the opposite direction, which is good and unusual.

On dividing reps between veterans and young backs:

We got a pretty good idea who Nick and Fat are. So giving them enough that they’re continuing to get better — similar challenge that we had with Olu and Tyler Warren and a lot of guys in that situation. So limit some of their reps.

And then we can’t give enough reps to the other guys. So cutting Kaytron and Nick’s reps down, and then give as many of those other guys the reps as possible. And then kind of rotate who goes out as the number three each day, type of deal. But it really doesn’t matter. It’s the same with the quarterbacks. They’re all getting the same number of reps. It’s just day-by-day, who goes first.

On RB Cam Wallace:

As you guys know, that was a significant injury, so there’s the physical component that he was still working with, the mental component he was still working through, and emotionally as well. And I see him getting more and more confident every single day. He’s totally ready to go, but it was a significant injury. So he’s still working through some of those things. He starts to look more and more like the Cam we remember every single day. And I’m proud of him. He’s handled it all really well.

James Franklin digs into the trenches

On Donkoh at right guard:

Like always, we’d love to have our starters in every position decided as early as possible. But even when we do that, we’re still going to rotate those guys because we want to create flexibility. And even if the starting five may look like X, if there’s an injury, we’re going to have to move people around to get our best five guys on the field.

So I get your point. He’s looked good. He’s a talented guy, as you know. He’s athletic enough to play tackle, but he’s also 323 pounds, so he’s got enough physical size, strength, power to get movement at guard. So he’s kind of what you want. You can’t get enough of those type of guys that create position flexibility. He’s getting a ton of reps at both, but we’re not at a point to make a decision. We’ve only had really one scrimmage the other night in the stadium, but we’ve got a ton of work. But not really ready to make a decision.

On defensive backs:

Zion, both at defensive back and as a returner, looks really good right now. Our depth of returner is much better. Now it’s focused on who’s going to be the best playmaker rather than the confidence of who’s catching the ball. Kenny Woseley is doing a really good job in there at the nickel as well. But there’s battles all over the place. AC has had a really good camp. Elliot Washington has had a really good camp. We got really good options. And the battle between King Mack and (Dajuan Lane) at safety has been impressive. So again, not sure how it’s going to play out, but they’ve all earned the trust of their teammates, as well as the coaching staff.

James Franklin post-practice video

On Enai White at DT:

We are going to move Enai inside. I think long term, it’s his best position in terms of being able to play the game as long as he can. Whenever you move down a position, you increase the athleticism. He has been as big as 275 pounds without even trying anyway. So it’s something that we think can help him and help us, and he’s also smart enough that if we got a game that we want to play with a big end — because he is physical, like you guys know we’ve done in the past with some guys — we could move him out there or use him in a goal line package, too. So just trying to put him in the best position to bring value to us and for himself long term.

On how young DTs have responded:

There’s been a lot of talk and buzz around Xavier. Blanding is as twitchy and as athletic as that we have at the position and has really taken a step right now. And then there’s a group of like three guys that are battling for those next two spots. I probably should have included Wafle, because Wafle is the other one that is doing some really nice things. And then there’s that group of three guys that are all battling — Liam, Cook, Randy — are all battling for those next spots, so we feel good probably about those top four to five guys. And then there’s a battle for that sixth defensive tackle.

Changes at Beaver Stadium

On Beaver Stadium:

We’re going to try to get in as many times as we can this camp, because we didn’t get in, to your point, this spring. And I also just think for our young players, it’s important to get in there as much as possible. We went in there the other night. It was awesome. The weather was great. The stadium looked beautiful, and the lights were on, and we got really good work. But some guys, you could tell, look different in there. It was big for them. But it’s cool. I think the stadium’s going to look phenomenal. Those decks they have in the corners that’s always been empty, they put these temporary stands — not just in the big ends of the big sideline, but those corners. And I’m sitting there looking up like, why didn’t we do that in the past? That was wasted space forever. Even the temporary bleachers, I think that’s awesome. I think that’s a huge opportunity for us. I think Pat and Vinny have done a phenomenal job of finding… you’re going to see a ton of upgrades this year, and then obviously next year is going to be crazy. There’s been a ton of hard work and really good ideas about how to maximize that stadium and how to make it as loud as possible. It’s always been a great venue. I think it’s only going to get better.

On coaches in the east box:

It’s a little bit of both. It’s not going to matter anymore because we’re going to have a really nice press box on either side. I know you guys have loved that naval ship, that looks like it’s about to fall off the side of the stadium. But from that standpoint, it really didn’t matter. So now it’s where’s the best side to be on to see the game and also maybe stop some people from stealing signals?

On Zuriah Fisher:

Good. He is a veteran guy. He’s an experienced guy. We got a ton of faith in him, and we’ve got a ton of belief in him. He’s physical against the run, he’s productive against the pass. He’s had a few little things — bumps and bruises — that have limited him a couple practices, not all of them, so that’s impacted him as well. But no, we expect him to be across from Dani and having a big year for us.

James Franklin on receivers flashing:

There’s a ton of guys. There’s the second-year guys that have really made moves for us that we’re excited about and see. There’s some guys that have been around for a while, like an Ivey. J.B. is a guy that is playing lightning fast right now. So there’s older guys that are kind of stepping up and ready to make a move. Liam’s a guy that not a lot of people are talking about, but we got a lot of confidence in him, and he’s a veteran guy for us. And then when you look at that young class of Lyrick and Koby, Jeff Exinor is a big, physical guy who ran extremely well when he showed up, and Matt Outten. So it’s a good group of young guys that we’re excited about, and I think a couple of them will end up playing this year, we’ll see. Koby has been the guy that I think has gotten a lot of buzz early on, but there’s been other guys that have stepped up, and I think have earned a ton of respect as well. So it’s gonna be interesting to see how this whole thing plays out.

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