Everything Penn State coach James Franklin said after the Lions' ninth spring practice
STATE COLLEGE — Penn State coach James Franklin held his fourth news conference of the spring on Tuesday night as his team put its ninth practice into the books. The team worked indoors on a rainy day, and it is now a week and a half from the Blue-White game on April 13 (2 p.m., BTN). The first question focused on transfer cornerbacks AJ Harris and Jalen Kimber.
“Two different guys in two different situations,” Franklin said. “Jalen is a veteran that’s played a ton of football in a really good conference. And you feel that. He’s just very poised, very mature. I think he’s a guy that I’m really excited to see this summer, because he’s got a lot on his plate right now. And I’ve been impressed with him.
“AJ, as you guys know, different point of his career, but has come in and is super aggressive and super confident and playing really well right now. He’s a physical, physical corner. I actually think he has the ability to really play all five positions: corner, nickel, or safety. And both seem to be picking it up really well. I do a new staff questionnaire when I hire people, which has been really valuable to us where after they’ve been here a couple of months, I have them compare and contrast and get feedback on places they’ve been. We started doing that with the transfers as well. So we just did that last week with those guys getting feedback, things that we can learn from and grow from, things they liked at the last program, didn’t like. Same thing at Penn State. So it’s been really valuable. And those guys seem to be adjusting very well.”
Read everything else Franklin had to say below.
On Penn State tackle Nolan Rucci
“He’s been great,” Franklin said. “We’ve known him and the family for a very long time. It’s been cool. His mom and dad have been at a ton of practices. As we all know, in terms of athleticism and body type and all those types of things, intelligence, he checks a lot of boxes. From my understanding, our guys love him. He’s fit in really well in the room. I think he’s really been excited about the development that he’s gotten so far in a brief period of time.
“And I think he enjoys the culture, the competitiveness of how we operate and do things. So, so far, so good. That will be, I think, a pretty heated battle, competition in training camp. I think we’ll have a really competitive battle at both left tackle and right tackle in training camp. And we expect him to be a big part of that.”
Could the Lions have co-starters at a position such as center similar to the rotations they’ve used in the past at guard, for example?
“I don’t know if I’ve ever said co-starter,” Franklin said. “But to your point, we’ve had guys that we’ve played similar reps on defense and on offense at times. So yeah, I think wherever you have a situation where, say, it’s a right tackle, and you got two guys, and there’s not a significant drop-off, maybe one guy has earned the starting job, but the other guy’s kind of right behind him, then you should play both. So that could happen at a ton of positions. Obviously, the offensive line is a little bit different from a chemistry standpoint. It’s really important those guys work together. But from a depth [standpoint] and from the length of season that we’re talking about and preparing for, you better do that.
“So, there’s some guys that maybe the [starter to backup] drop-off is significant. We got to make sure by game five, it’s not anymore by playing them. And then there’s other guys where the competition has been great in practice. You still want to see people in games. And they both deserve to play. And I think that’s also important from a developmental standpoint as well.”
On Penn State center Nick Dawkins, his personality, and what role his parents played in his charismatic ways
“I never was fortunate enough to meet or know his dad,” Franklin said. “His mom’s awesome. His family’s awesome. So I’m not sure about that. But Nick is just really smart, really charismatic, and isn’t afraid to lead by actions and verbally, which you don’t see as much anymore with young men. That they’re willing to speak up and challenge their teammates. He’s able to do that because he holds himself to that standard, which I think everybody respects when he speaks up. And he’s been really good.
“I think when you have intelligence and charisma and you’ve earned the respect of the team, players and coaches, it puts you in a position to be able to do that. As you guys probably have seen some of the stuff he’s done with the media, some of the stuff he’s done with podcasting, he’s just very articulate and charismatic. So he’s gonna have a bright future. I think he’s gonna have a really good year for us this year. But I think he’s got a very bright future whatever he decides to do long-term.”
On the play of receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith this spring
“I think he’s had a good spring,” Franklin said. “He’s shown some real flashes this spring. And I’m seeing them on a more consistent basis. I think Coach [Kotelnicki’s] done a really good job with him as well. They seem to have a really good relationship. I think Marques [Hagans] has done a really good job of developing relationships with the whole room. So obviously, we need him to have a big year, and I’m seeing more consistency in the special plays and production.
On second-year Penn State linebacker Tony Rojas
“I think you see physically, he looks different,” Franklin said. “I wanted to make sure that he’s not putting on too much weight. But I think he’s a guy that literally can play both positions. He’s intelligent enough to play [middle linebacker]. And he’s physical enough and got enough instincts to play the boundary backer. And he can run. He’s had a lot of production early on in his career. Obviously, we expect it to skyrocket this year, especially with Abdul moving to defensive end.
“I think him and Kobe [King] will work very well together. And I think there will still be competition with some other guys. But I think he’s getting better every single day. It’s interesting. You don’t want coaching changes. You want as much stability as you possibly can. But, there’s also some aspects, that things that he learned from [Manny Fiaz], that [Manny Diaz] did really well, and now he’s learned some things from Tom Allen that Tom Allen does really well, you’re able to kind of steal some things from all of them. I’ve been impressed with his development and I think you’ll continue to see it all summer.”
On players building their personal brands through NIL opportunities
“I think it’s been really good for them, and valuable, especially in game of football where guys got helmets and pads on and sometimes it’s more challenging to get to know their personalities,” Franklin said. “So I think that’s been important. I think it’s important for our fan base and our community to get to know them on a different level. I think sometimes when they’re 6-foot-5, 285 pounds, we forget that they’re still young men that are growing and developing. So I think all these things are really good opportunities when handled the right way. But I also think there’s an important lesson in all of this to still keep the main thing the main thing and getting really good grades and playing really good football and putting the team in position to win. And for them to put themselves in a position to be able to chase their long-term goals both on and off the field. And I know their brand is part of that. But I don’t think any of them came here because of their brand.
More: Penn State receiver ‘flashes’, transfer stands out, more: James Franklin notebook
“They came here to get a great education, play big-time football, and then be able to have these opportunities and be supported in these opportunities. So we just got to make sure that we keep things in those categories and that order: School, football, one A and one B. And then the brand and all that other good stuff is great. One of the things I love is the gear. Some of the stuff, the gear, the guys are making, Dawks’ stuff, the material is unbelievable. It’s pretty cool what some of these guys are doing. And, I think some of the entrepreneurial lessons that they’re learning, early on, even in some of them that don’t go well, I think there’s lessons, and learning them now while they’re still in college and have resources like professors, our player development staff, and all those things is pretty cool.”
On what he’s seen from the position battles at punt returner and kicker so far
“At kicker, I think we’ve gotten a ton of reps,” Franklin said. “Obviously it’s different in the stadium. We wanted to go to Beaver Stadium the last couple of weekends, and the weather hasn’t totally cooperated with that. But that’ll go on way into camp. But, they’ve done a nice job. It’s been a really good competition with all three of them. Not ready to kind of name an order or starter and those types of things. And, punt returner? You know, that’s a hard one. As you guys saw when Daequan Hardy started returning the ball for touchdowns, and you guys were all looking at me like I was crazy: ‘Why wasn’t he on the field earlier?’ The challenge is, for the most part, what you can evaluate is catch percentage and decision-making in practice. You just get very little live reps of a guy returning punts that the offensive coaches would be comfortable or defensive coaches would be comfortable.
More: Notes and Observations from Penn State’s spring practice
“So that’s a hard thing to evaluate. And then sometimes you may say it’s a live rep, and then the punter punts it so well it gets fair caught, so you don’t get the reps you really want. So that’s a challenge, figuring that out, unless there’s just somebody that’s just so obvious. And then I think the other thing that I think all of this taught us is, the explosive punt returns are critical. But also, going back to the catch percentage is also critical. Because, the ones you don’t catch that roll for 30 yards, all that yardage still adds up. So that’s a challenging thing to evaluate. But we got a lot of guys working at it. We’ll get some live work on that this summer once we have it narrowed down to maybe one or two guys.”
