Live updates: James Franklin CFP press conference
Penn State head coach James Franklin is meeting with reporters ahead of his Nittany Lions’ CFP date with SMU this weekend at Beaver Stadium.
Follow our live updates from the session, here:
Live updates: James Franklin CFP press conference
(Updates will appear in reverse chronological order. Page will not automatically refresh. Press conference has ended at 12:35 p.m.)
Transfer SOP:
12/16/2024 11:35:17 AMThe way they operate is, if you go into the portal, at that point you’ve made a decision to move on and Penn State moves on too. But as you know, not going to have a standard rule for how they operate dictate everything. There has to be flexibility within everything to put program in best position to be successful. Talked through a ton of different scenarios, and more they went through it, Beau felt he was going to have a hard time finishing school, finding a place he wants to go to, and still prepare like the starter as he’d been doing all year long. And, he was getting pressure to go on visits and see these places. One of these things where, like a lot of things, in theory it sounds good but when you actually talk through how it’s going to work, it’s hard to do that. Hard to say you’re prepping to be the starter. End of the day, Beau didn’t feel he could do those things to the level he needed to. Was at practice yesterday and could tell he was distracted by all of this. They have a rule, yes. But there are times you have to revisit it and at times make exceptions or be flexible to different solutions. Were open to them and coming up with scenarios that could work for everyone and couldn’t get to a point where everyone felt it would work out in everyone’s best interest. Talked to other players on the team and got their feedback. If you make a decision for one it doesn’t stay that way. Trickle down. Setting precedent. But all goes back to, that’s why he has so much respect for Beau, not just for how he handled himself the last four years, but came into office and had multiple man to man conversations in best interest of Beau and Penn State, and outside of both of their control, things from a calendar and NCAA perspective made that almost impossible to do.
Smolik/Grunk:
12/16/2024 11:30:38 AMSmolik has been hurt all year and only cleared in the last week. Grunk has probably gotten 350 reps in practice and Smolik, who they love and think has a bright future, wasn’t able to get those reps. All those things will be factored in before they make those decisions.
Beau impact on game plan:
12/16/2024 11:29:20 AMThat was something people had to game plan for that they could be creatively. Will continue to do that with different pieces of the puzzle. Too important to what they’re doing. Whether it’s guys who have already been playing, or guys that haven’t in games. One thing they’re talking about is Sunday developmental scrimmages have been critical, specifically for times like this. Have gone live there, not a lot, but enough, including for QB, so they’ve gotten a ton of reps. Think they have answers they have a ton of confidence in, but will take more time and creativitiy. Pieces are there. Need to use different pieces than they have been.
Sal Wormley/Nolan Rucci:
12/16/2024 11:27:29 AM
What he loves about Sal is been there, done that. Always a smile on his face. Will have an opportunity to play at the next level. Big part of when Donkoh was there as first year starter. Same with Rucci. To put Warren on one side of tackle and guard on other side of a new tackle, that’s helpful. Communication, combo blocks, all those things. Donkoh was doing some good things. Grew from there after bowl game. Rucci came after not playing much over three years and really has thrived. He’s really happy. Really strong relationships in the locker room. Staff loves him. Got bigger and stronger since he got on campus. Continues to grow. Mom and dad awesome. Gets messages and info from them as well. He’s thriving right now. Has a really bright future. Blessed to have him. Also doing really well academically. And most amazingly, has a beautiful, intelligent girlfriend. Doesn’t know how he pulled that off. Doing great in every area. All these high profile guys who decided to stay home or come home are thriving. Cool to see. He would have played a ton this year anyway, but with Donkoh injury, couldn’t be more thankful and appreciative he’s here. Win-win for everyone.
Kotelnicki announcing return:
12/16/2024 11:24:16 AM
Compliment and a curse. Keep losing staff to be head coaches. Being able to retain staff in coordinator positions is really important. Think about how hard they worked this offseason to make sure having three new coordinators wouldn’t create new challenges and be a setback. Did a good job of that. But also excitement about what they can do moving forward thinking about what they can do this offseason building on it. Andy, like Brent Pry and some others, realized that Penn State is in a great position. Top 10, top five program in college football with what they’ve done here over 11 years, but more recently, and there is power that comes with that. At the end of the day, are you happy? Doing it at a place with good people? Can you win?
Andy and family feel they’re in good position and he can wait and take the right job. There is power in that. Big for a lot of reasons. Don’t want to deal with that during playoff run. With players making decisions. Ton of conversations that went into that too.
What went so well running the ball against Oregon:
12/16/2024 11:20:24 AMThat’s for a longer discussion. Write this down and follow up in the offseason because the answer he’d like to give is not appropriate in this setting because it could impact how people game plan against them, what they do and are thinking. But the answer for this time is, Kaytron and Nick are both back and healthier than they’ve been in a while. And OL and TEs did a really good job of getting a hat on a hat and straining. Some of the QB run stuff to keep people honest was a factor. Tyler Warren’s role in that as well. Getting hat on hat consistently. If you do that you have a chance in run game and protection.
Reasons for Drew return
12/16/2024 11:17:04 AM
Struggling with this because wants to beat SMU, SMU, SMU, SMU, and doesn’t want to really talk about all these other things. And that’s the challenge of the timing of all these things. Again, Drew has been phenomenal. Mom and dad phenomenal. Ton of conversations. He’s doing a ton of really good things. Developing, playing great, leading, and a lot of excitement because everyone believes there is a lot of room for growth and development. Penn State wants to be a part of that and family trusts Penn State in that. Ton of conversations with NFL GMs and scouts to provide info to players of where they’re at of strengths and weaknesses. How to take that info, make a decision, and once season is over, spending time attacking the things that are weaknesses. Conflicted on this because job is to keep everyone focused on SMU, but with all this info coming out, has to talk about it.
Drew coming back
12/16/2024 11:14:35 AMCouldn’t be more excited about that. Also factors into Beau’s decision. Wants to give both topics and both people the respect and appreciation they deserve. Could have had whole press conference about it. It’s a hard thing to put the totality of these things into words in this moment.
Beau leaving/Drew returning
12/16/2024 11:07:26 AMTwo massive questions he could talk about the entire press conference and he hit both on first question. Wants to talk about Beau first. He has been a phenomenal teammate, has been a big reason why we are where we are right now. Parents, awesome. HS coach, awesome. Being a backup QB isn’t an easy thing to do and he never approached it that way. So much confidence from the team about how he prepared as a starter. He’s also a man’s man. Came into the office, had multiple conversations with him about the process. Talked last week. Had no intentions of leaving. But “we got problems in college football.” I can give you my word, Beau Pribula did not want to leave our program and did not want to leave until the end of the season, but the way the portal is and timing of it, and the way the team is playing, and you play QB, and there is only one spot and they are filling up, he felt like he was put in a no-win situation, and James agrees with him.
Hates for it for Beau. Doesn’t think it’s in the best interest of the student-athlete or college football. But that’s the challenge right now. Who is running college football and making best decisions for student-athletes or sport as a whole? Beau shouldn’t be in this position. Don’t play as many games? Don’t play conference championships, which could equal things out to teams not playing anyway? Finish season to align with academic calendar of most institutions? To have free agency transfer portal during the playoff doesn’t make sense.
Discussions about a commissioner of college football, but pretty obvious they need it. Someone not biased based on a conference. And is out of the financial impacts of it as well. If you’re just making decisions in interest of college football and student-athletes, you can do it. But if biased by conference or revenue and earning. Concerned for college football right now and a lot of people are.
Wants this answer to be about Beau, who is a wonderful young man. Would recruit him every year. Heckuva young man. Had a phenomenal career here. Wants everyone to understand that and why this young man couldn’t finish the season with this team.
Tries to look at things from both perspectives after a deep breath. Has responsibility to Penn State and the program, but also to Beau Pribula. Hates it. Hates it for him. Hates it for Penn State. Not the right thing for college football.
Opening statement
12/16/2024 10:59:11 AMSMU: HC has done a really good job. Background as an OC and what he’s been able to do in a short period of time at SMU is cool. When James was at Vandy, they visited a bunch of places about possible stadium expansion, and that was one of the places they went. Got a feel for town, history and traditions. To see him doing that is cool. Good for college football.
The way they is constructed is a little different from Penn State. 48 players in the portal. Penn State has 9. Pro transfer portal, just haven’t had a lot go in, and have only taken 4-6 a year. Different when you’re taking over a program now in college football. It’s a different build of the roster. But he’s done a good job.
OC: No. 2 in ACC and No. 6 in the country in points per game at just under 39. QB, they go as he goes. Explosive athlete. Can pull it down and run. Rashard Smith from Miami is doing a nice job, rushing, receiving and as a returner.
Defensively: Up there with some of the best teams they’ve played. Rushing defense stat jumps out to you. DE No. 5 Roberts, Miami transfer, DE 6 Harvey from Miami. Safety 23. LB 24 Wilson. DT 81 Hunt from Miami.
ST: Cooper has done a nice job. First in ACC and ninth nationally in kickoff coverage. WR/PR 13 Daniels. KR/RB Smith.
Going to be a challenge. Looking forward to it. Will need this place rocking on Saturday. A different situation this time of year having a home game. Every program in the country was battling to have a bye or a home game. Able to accomplish one of those two.
