James Franklin details personnel progress: Notebook

Penn State head coach James Franklin met with the media following his program’s Wednesday practice. As the Nittany Lions continue to prepare for Rutgers, Franklin offered his perspective on players who have taken strides this season.

Here is a look at some of the standout points from Franklin’s post-practice Q&A:

James Franklin midweek notebook

Receivers taking steps

Mitchell Tinsley and Parker Washington held down their usual starting spots last week against Maryland, as they’ve done all season.

But, whether in pregame warmups or on the field itself, the receiver position is seeing some late-season jockeying for playing time. That bore itself out as 24 snaps for Tre Wallace, 21 for KeAndre Lambert-Smith, 17 for Liam Clifford, 17 for Malick Meiga, and a single offensive rep for Omari Evans. 

Asked Wednesday about how the position group has evolved beyond Washington and Tinsley this season, Franklin pointed to the pros and cons of the situation.

“There are some guys that have shown some good things. Malick Meiga has shown some good things. Tre Wallace is showing some good things. Liam has shown some good things. There are a number of those guys. Omari has shown some things. So there are some flashes,” Franklin said. “I don’t know if there’s one guy that’s totally separated himself on a consistent basis. There have been guys that have done it at times, but not on a consistent basis. So we’ll continue to give those guys opportunities, whether they’re behind those guys and tapping like we’ve done most of the year, or if it’s a rotation.”

Abdul Carter’s progress

Coming off his best game in a Penn State uniform, and sharing the program’s internal player of the week honors as a result, linebacker Abdul Carter was the subject of a question Wednesday night.

Sizing up the true freshman’s play, and progress this season, Franklin suggested that the learning curve has steadily become less steep as the year has gone on.

“There’s a big difference between playing linebacker in high school compared to here, and what we do in all the different formations, and shifts, and adjustments he has to make. And each week, he’s getting more and more confident,” Franklin said. “So with that, he’s making less mistakes, but he’s also playing faster because he’s more confident in what to do and how to do it. It’s different at that position. 

“I also would say that Will linebacker position in Manny’s defense is an important position so that factors into it as well. But he’s obviously been productive and he’s got acceleration and burst and aggression like not too many people really on the planet, let alone on our team. He does some really good things. You guys see it. We see it. He’s growing every single week and getting better.”

Cristian Driver’s new gig

Franklin mentioned true freshman Cristian Driver as having “position flexibility” during his Tuesday press conference.

The son of Green Bay Packers great receiver Donald Driver, the four-star athlete began as a corner but, as explained by Franklin, is going to finish this season practicing both on defense and offense.

“We felt like during the recruiting process, the best spot for him was defensive back. Our plan was specifically safety, and we wanted to kind of train him like we did Zakee. Start him at corner and then transition him to safety. We feel like working on an island on the perimeter as a corner really gave Zakee a lot of confidence when he went to safety. So we wanted to do the same thing. And he’s really done some good things,” Franklin said. “But as the year’s gone on, he feels more comfortable at wide receiver. So he came in and met with Taylor, came in and met with Terry, and then came in and met with me.

“Based on some depth and some injuries, we’ve kind of said, Okay, towards the end of this year, we’ll split time with you. Help you get some work and get started at wideout, but we still need you to know what’s going on defensively. So he’s kind of splitting time during the week. But the plan is, moving forward, that he’ll be a wide receiver.”

Zuriah Fisher’s return

The first hints were revealed with Zuriah Fisher’s mere return to practice participation in September. Following what had appeared to be a season-ending knee injury sustained during the program’s spring practices, the defensive end’s return was a welcome surprise.

Last weekend against Maryland, that process came full circle as Fisher appeared in his first reps – six in all – for the 2022 season. 

According to James Franklin, that return was right on schedule but is a nice boost to the room regardless.

“He’s right on schedule with where we thought he would be. Obviously, the game circumstances helped with that, too,” Franklin said. “But yeah, he’s right on schedule and has handled it really well.”