Everything Penn State coach James Franklin said at his final news conference before Ohio State

Penn State coach James Franklin held his final news conference with reporters on Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s top-five matchup with Ohio State. The leader of the No. 3 Nittany Lions’ first three questions focused on some of the No. 4 Buckeyes’ top talent. First up was a question about receivers Emeka Egbuka and freshman Jeremiah Smith.

“You got one who’s a veteran, who’s been playing for a long time, making a ton of plays, experienced player, a confident player,” Franklin said. “Very, very good player who will play for a long time. And then obviously a freshman who we’re aware of and knew from high school, recruited that high school, number-one wide receiver in the country, number-one player in the country. And since he’s arrived on campus, he’s backed it up. So not a whole lot of surprises there, but ton of respect, and obviously they have our attention.”

Next came a question about OSU defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau. He had six tackles and two sacks against the Lions in 2022 and a sack in both the 2021 and 2023 contests.

“A phenomenal, well-rounded player against the run, against the pass,” Franklin said. “Multi talented player, can do a lot of different things. Obviously, his stat sheet against us from two years ago was as good of a performance as you could have. So a ton of respect for him. Obviously, again, he has our attention. And obviously we’ve been spending a ton of time of having a plan of how we’re going to try to limit his impact in the game.”

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The final OSU-themed question was about running back Quinshon Judkins.

“Big, strong, fast, explosive player who can run in between the tackles, but also can run the ball on the perimeter,” Franklin said. “You can get involved in the passing game. He’s been productive in the two best conferences in all the college football. And and he has our attention and respect.”

Read everything Franklin had to say and watch all of his comments below.

On Penn State QB Drew Allar’s status for Saturday

“Yeah, at this stage, no new information for you guys. Game time decisions. But so far, so good. And getting both Beau and Drew a ton of reps in practice.”

On the process of players learning what they can and cannot play through from an injury perspective

“Well, that’s difficult. Because anything that deals with medical or health and safety, the doctors and the trainers handle that. But I do think there’s some veterans that talk to players and help them with that, because there’s a reality in our game that the trainers will decide if you’re available or not, and then after that, it’s up to the players. And some of that is maturity. Some young players haven’t played through some bumps and bruises before, and others have.

“Some guys, that comes natural to them right away, the ability to do that. And others have to kind of experience it and figure it out and what they’re able to do and what they’re not. That’s a process, and it’s different for each one of them. But it starts with our medical professionals.”

On Penn State-Ohio State being a ‘big game’

“It’s a big game. 1 and 0. Last week was a big game at Wisconsin. USC was a big game. We recognize this is a big game. We’re focused on finding a way to get a W this week against a really good opponent that’s ranked highly, like we are.”

On if freshman QB Ethan Grunkemeyer would be ready if needed

“Here’s the deal: If Drew was not able to practice, and you guys were at practice today, if Drew was unable to practice, than Grunk’s getting reps. But if you try to get three quarterbacks ready, you get zero quarterbacks ready. So you guys saw Drew was able to take reps today. So the reps have gone between Drew and Beau.”

How can the Lions improve in the field position battle?

“The first thing is, it starts with having a punt returner who’s caught a lot of balls in games and returned balls and made plays. And as you know, we’ve had a little bit of musical chairs there trying to find the guy. Zion [Tracy] is doing some really good things. [Liam] Clifford is doing some really good things. Some young players are as well. That punter last week was difficult because it was rugby. So not only would he directional kick, like everybody does, if you’re rolling to your right, kick to your right, but he would roll to the right and then kick to the left. He kicked across the field, which is unusual. The one he kicked was a knuckleball, which is difficult. So don’t get me wrong, I’d love to field more of those balls and be more aggressive, but most importantly, knock on wood, we have not turned the ball over in that category. Now check that box. Great.

“Now we got to take the next step, and we got to be able to start catching more of those and returning more of those. So, that’ll be a big factor for us. We’ve had this issue in the past. We found one with [Daequan Hardy] last year, and obviously did extremely well. So we need to do that again, but that’s easier said than done. Catching punts is a different skill that not everybody has. That’s a very, very important job that you spend a lot of time trying to figure out who the right guy is for that position.”

On whether or not James Franklin prefers Noon games to night games

“I love the noon games. There’s nothing better than a noon game in Happy Valley against Ohio State. This place will be rocking. I’ve seen it all over social media. Our fans could not be more excited, our alumni, our lettermen. Jason Cabinda, we were just talking about that, Marcus [Allen], we were just talking about it. Nothing better than a noon game in Happy Valley.”

On dealing with the outside noise surrounding this game

“We just stay consistent with our process. Is there a lot more noise? Outside. Do we start getting questions like your questions? Yes. Like I said today at the Quarterback Club: West Virginia, to open the season was a big game. Bowling Green was a big game. If you don’t think it was, lose to Bowling Green and see how people react. They’re all big games. This is a big game because of how we’ve handled the previous six. So we don’t change our process. I can’t control the noise and the things that are outside this building. But we stay consistent with how we go about our business, and I can’t control the other things.”

On if Penn State has had any more in-helmet communication issues this year

“Last week, at the end of the game [at Wisconsin], we lost contact with the booth, so we had no contact with the coordinators at the end of the game. We had no ability to communicate with the quarterbacks and the linebackers on the field. But we’ve been working on that, coming up with a solution. But we did have a problem at the end of that game, at a very critical moment. If it’s one play, it’s too many plays.”