Everything Penn State coach James Franklin said following the Lions' fourth spring practice

Penn State coach James Franklin spoke with reporters for the second time this spring on Tuesday following the Lions’ fourth practice before the 2025 season. After confirming that offensive lineman Nolan Rucci and defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton are not currently available to practice (each is dealing with an injury, BWI has reported), the next question focused on freshmen receivers and January enrollees Koby Howard and Matthew Outten.

“Both of them are big, physical guys,” Franklin said. “I mean, [Matthew] Outten’s like 212, pounds already. When we watched him in high school, he was a wide receiver, he was a Wildcat quarterback, he was a running back.He kind of did it all. Punt return, kick return, powerful guy, fast guy, explosive guy. We’ve seen the same things, but for those very same reasons, he’s a little raw as a wide receiver. So, it’s great that we got him in here early. He’s doing really well. We’re excited about his future.

“Koby [Howard], another guy more developed. He’s already 190 something pounds, strong in the weight room, explosive. Been playing wide out pretty much his whole life. So he’s a little bit more refined in those areas. But both have done a really nice job already for guys that should still be in high school.”

You can watch a video of Franklin’s complete comments and read a transcript of everything he said below.

On cornerback Audavion Collins

“AC has done a great job since he’s got here,” Franklin said. “He’s gotten better every single semester and every single year. Extremely competitive guy in practice that has showed up in games as well. We expect him to take another step this year and factor in, whether it’s as a starter or in the rotation, but he’s been a really good pickup for us. Positive guy, always got a smile on his face. Always got great energy. Really good with his teammates as well as the coaches. He’s fun to be around. He’s fun to coach. I’m a big fan.”

On first-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles

“Jim, he’s a man of few words,” Franklin said. “That’s in the staff meetings in the morning, that’s out here on the field. He’s a believer that he’s going to spend a ton of time in the meeting room and taking notes down, kind of like I do, and then make the points he needs to make to the coaches in the meeting rooms. We meet in the mornings and go through the film, and he is thorough, and he is detailed to the point where I think he’s very, very comfortable on the field letting the coaches coach. But from a big picture perspective, he sees it all.

“He’s got a very good understanding of what he wants it to look like and how it’s all supposed to fit together. I’ve been very impressed with how it’s gone so far. Like every time you have tweaks on your offense and defense, there’s different responsibilities for different guys that have to take it on. There’s different personalities of the coordinators and the position coaches when turnover happens, and all those things seem to be going very, very well. So I’ve been pleased.

How are Penn State spring practices going so far?

“The practices have been very competitive,” Franklin said. “It doesn’t feel like [the offense] is in year two, and defensively is only a couple weeks in. It’s been very competitive. So I’ve been pleased with how it’s going, and we manage it right? The way we do it, and always have, is the offense is limited what they can do on day one. The defense is also limited on what they could do on day one. It’s not about the offense beating the defense. It’s about putting the best Penn State team together and creating the best teaching and learning environment.

“So that’s kind of how we do it. It’s structured. I got scarred by it as a young coordinator, and it was a free for all. You’re trying to put base offense in and then you’re going against every defense that America has ever seen before. So we don’t do it that way. We structure it. I think it’s been helpful for everybody, kind like a teacher has a teaching progression, right?”

Is Dan Connor’s role different this year now that he is officially listed as the linebackers coach?

“It’s really not a whole lot different,” Franklin said. “Dan, really, Dan was the linebackers coach essentially last year. Maybe it wasn’t announced, like publicly, but that’s how, that’s how we operated last year. Now, I think Tom [Allen] was drawn to the linebackers a little bit more, so he would hover around that group, maybe more than others, but not a whole lot different, to be honest with you.”

What’s it like having Penn State legend Trace McSorley back as the assistant quarterbacks coach?

“I mean, you guys know how I feel about Trace and his whole family,” Franklin said. “Trace is a special guy to me. He’s a special guy to Penn State, our history and our tradition. So he chased his dream as long as he thought it made sense in the NFL and and was able to play at a level that very few people get to play at for a number of years. And we’ve been talking the last couple years that he was going to probably get into coaching, and whether that was at the NFL level or with us. We had an opportunity open up and presented it to him and had some good discussions on what it would look like. And he’s been great.

“You look at Danny O’Brien who played for me and coached for me, you know, Trace McSorley, who played for me and coached for me. And I think that helps with the learning curve, because they already know the culture. They already know the expectations. I also think it helps our quarterback group, having somebody that played quarterback at Penn State, because until you’ve actually sat in that chair, it’s different. You guys heard me say it before: The head coach and the quarterback, it’s different. So having Trace to be able to mentor that room from his experiences, I think is valuable.”

How are the running backs doing under new position coach Stan Drayton?

“It’s been really competitive, right? Everybody knows we’re going to play three running backs,” Franklin said. “So there’s a battle for that third running back. I also think, you know, last year we had two guys that were trying to redshirt if we could. Those guys now, obviously been through that, so now not only are they competing to be that third running back, but they also need to have a huge impact on special teams. They probably could have last year, but again, we were trying to save the redshirt, so now it’s competing to be the third back, but it’s also competing for a big role on special teams, which they need to. They need to have a bigger role on special teams now that they’re able to.”

Where is J’ven Williams working at this spring along the offensive line?

“I’m a big J’ven Williams fan,” Franklin said. “He’s been awesome since the day he stepped on campus. It was a little bit of a learning curve for him, because he went to high school that maybe threw it five times in his three year high school career. So passing game was something that we had to work through. But all the cultural things he learned from that program. All they do is win, run the ball. He knows how to run block. He’s great in space, great kid, great attitude. He’s got a very, very bright future for us right now. This spring, we predominantly got him at tackle, because obviously we’ve got two tackles that aren’t here right now in terms of practicing. If they were here, then he’d be splitting time between tackle and guard and compete for one of those jobs as well. But it’s really good experience and really good opportunity for him. And the way he’s going right now, he’s going to end up being a part of that competition for the right tackle spot too.”

On Penn State third-year cornerback Elliot Washington

“I think as some of you guys recognized, I’ve never seen that before: In my 12 years here and three years at Vanderbilt, never had a guy win every single [winter workout competitor of the day for the at his position],” Franklin said. “I tell my coaches all the time. This isn’t like elementary school or kindergarten or Little League, where everybody gets a smiley face and try to spread the wealth everybody’s happy. Give it to the guy who’s earned it. And Elliot came to work every single day. He just continues to get better. He’s super explosive, maybe the most explosive guy we have on our team, maybe the most horsepower, in terms of speed on our team.

“He’s a big corner at 190 something pounds, has shown flashes. There’s a lot of excitement in the building, and he’s earned it. I’m proud of him and his hard work and attitude. It’s paid dividends for him, and I think it’s going to show up in the fall. Just got keep stacking days.”

On second-year Nittany Lions receiver Tyseer Denmark

“I think you guys saw last year flashes when you guys were at practice that continued kind of all season,” Franklin said. “Same thing now. The big thing is, for a lot of these young players, it’s consistency. It’s physical consistency, it’s mental consistency, those types of things. He got the ability to help us this year, and we need him to help us this year. It’s just we got to be more consistent. So again, I’m proud of him. I think he’s got a bright future, but nobody cares he’s a red shirt freshman. It’s time now. We need him take that next step, and he is more than capable of being a big time player in this league as a redshirt freshman.”