How is James Franklin handling expectations for Penn State football, Drew Allar? Head coach explains to Adam Breneman
The buzz for Penn State football continues to build ahead of the 2023 season. And, Nittany Lion head coach James Franklin isn’t denying that reality as preseason practice quickly approaches.
He just has a plan to deal with it.
Thursday evening, former Nittany Lion tight end Adam Breneman released his latest podcast, this time featuring Franklin for a lengthy sit-down interview conducted at the program’s Lasch Building. Concluding the wide-ranging interview, Breneman turned from a look at the past, examining Franklin’s nine completed seasons at Penn State, to a look into the immediate future.
Namely, how is he handling the hype accompanying his team this summer?
“Outside of the Lasch Building, I try not to answer those questions. People are asking and I really just try to downplay it as much as possible,” Franklin told Breneman. “But inside the building, we don’t really talk about those things. It’s like, ‘Are we working the way we need to work? Are we preparing the way we need to prepare to do the things that we want to do, starting with West Virginia?’
“Nothing else matters. If we’re doing those things, the games take care of themselves.”
James Franklin’s game plan
Only 66 days now separate the Nittany Lions from those games. They’ll play host to the Mountaineers in a nationally broadcast, prime-time game on Sept. 2 at Beaver Stadium.
But before they reach that juncture, Franklin remains committed to the process currently at play daily for the program this summer. Combining that work ethic for the program with the readily understood reasons for optimism, Franklin said he understands why his program is so highly thought of this offseason.
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“I think the excitement is great, and there’s a reason for that,” Franklin said. “We got a ton of really good players returning. We were able to end the season with a really good win on the road, essentially at the Rose Bowl, against a really good Utah team. I got a ton of respect for Coach Whittingham and what he’s been able to do there. So there’s a lot of momentum coming into the season.
“And then we had so many young players that played really well. You got a guy like Olu Fashanu, who decides to come back. And then Drew (Allar) gets in games last year. You can do all the drills you want, but the thing that he showed is poise. He looked so comfortable when he was in there. And I’m talking like Purdue, Game One on the road in the Big Ten.”
Next steps
Allar, who finished completing 35 of 60 passes for 344 yards and four touchdowns, is the presumed starting quarterback for the Nittany Lions this fall. And Franklin, recognizing that returning talent at a variety of positions this offseason, said the steps ahead for the program are straightforward.
“There are reasons for (the hype) and I get it, but we just try to control the things that we can control, which is how we’re working, how we’re preparing, how we’re building our chemistry as a team,” Franklin said. “And then go out and hopefully prove people right and prove some people wrong.”
