How is Penn State changing its Signing Day plan ahead of its Big Ten title game trip?
Penn State has made signing day a spectacle ever since James Franklin arrived in State College back in 2014. After a couple years of having a morning live stream, news conference, and public celebration on campus, the Nittany Lions cut the latter part out over most of the last decade. But, the rest has remained. In recent years — minus during COVID — the staff has decorated a dedicated spot in the Lasch Building for the party that welcomes each high school newcomer to the program. In every other year, the assistant coaches and rest of the support staff gather around Franklin to speak with the recruits closest to them. This year, though, with the Lions set to play Oregon in Saturday’s Big Ten title game, the plan will change significantly when the Class of 2025 signs on Wednesday.
“I’d probably say one of the biggest differences for signing day is that I’ll be involved with signing day, with the recruiting staff, but none of the assistants will,” Franklin said. “Typically, we’ve all been involved. But, with this being in-season, that going to be hard to pull off.
“So, I’ll step away from game planning for maybe an hour or so to welcome the recruits and their families into our family. But, that’s really about it.”
Penn State has had its week turned on its head
Penn State thought this week would be mostly spent resting and recovering, minus accomplishing some specific practice objectives. However, that all changed with Michigan beat Ohio State and the Lions topped Maryland to head to the title game at Lucas Oil Stadium (8 p.m. ET, CBS).
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“I went into the locker room after the game and I told them I got good news and bad news,” Franklin said. “We were supposed to have Sunday off as a staff and players. Now we’re practicing and working. It’ll be a long day, and. That’s a positive. That’s obviously a positive. So our guys are excited about it. But obviously a very different week. It was going to be a week for rest and recovery. Some strategic practices. But obviously, we always have to be prepared for all these different scenarios. And we were.
“So, right after the game, I told them, hey, we’re ready to go. We’re practicing on Sunday. They didn’t even know that we had Sunday off yet. But that was the plan. So right after the game, I let them know what the schedule was going to be like. And it’s back to a normal week schedule for us. In-season schedule. And our coaches and players are ready to go. And obviously, as you can imagine, pretty excited about it.”
