Penn State coach James Franklin set for 'grind' of player meetings; what does the rest of the staff do now?

There is no rest for the weary — and we’re not saying anyone within the Penn State football program is exhausted — now that spring practice is over. Rather than take a break, the Nittany Lions will now continue to build toward the 2023 season, albeit in a different way than they just did wth 15 padded practices.

Starting with head coach James Franklin, he will meet with every member of the roster over the next two weeks. If it sounds like an almost impossible task, that’s because it is. But, after all 100-plus meetings conclude, the 10th year leader of the Lions believes he will have a better feel for many things moving forward.

“One of my favorite things to do, and one of the things that I dislike to do is I have to meet with every single player on the team,” Franklin said. “There is a ton of value in it, but it is a grind. Whatever our number is on the roster right now, I’ll meet with every single one of those players, review the document from the strength staff, review a document from the academic staff, the training staff and their position coach so they understand holistically where they’re at.

“Then, I give them specific feedback as well. I also get feedback on the staff. What do they think about their position coach, what do they think about the coordinator? What do they think about the strength staff? That feedback is important. I kind of tally it all up. Who is your favorite staff member and why? There is a ton of information that we’re able to get that is part of my evaluation process, not just for the players but for the staff. That will be a grind.”

It’s a worthwhile grind, though.

What will other Penn State staff members do?

The spring evaluation period is here. So is the spring transfer portal window. So, everyone from the support staff in the recruiting department and off-field analysts to the graduate assistants, assistant coaches, and coordinators at Penn State will be reviewing film of possible players to offer at both the high school and college ranks. But, there is internal work to do, too.

“Monday and Tuesday, all day, the players will be meeting with their position coaches,” Franklins said Saturday. “They will get feedback from their position coaches. The coaches will get feedback from the players. We have them fill out a document beforehand to come in, answer some questions. There are some questions for the position coach to discuss with them.

“So, they get really good feedback from their position coach. The strength coaches are all broken down, they have a position on offense and defense. Strength coaches will do the same thing. They’ll break down where they’re at, where they need to focus, what they need to work on, to develop a plan.”

The 10 on-field assistants can hit the road today for the evaluation period. But, they probably won’t start traveling until the middle of the week. Beyond them, some parts of the Penn State program will begin working on the first quarter of the 2023 season.

“We just have to be very intentional,” Franklin said. “As coaches, as players, as individual positions, as sides of the ball, and grind on this stuff. We got to go through the tape from spring and make all the cut ups so, when we get off the road from spring recruiting, we’ll go through the cut ups from spring ball.

“We’ll start to come up with what our identity is going to be now on offense, defense and special teams based off of what we did well this spring. Obviously, right now, the analysts and GAs on Monday will start working on breaking down our first four opponents as well. So, there’s a ton of work to be done.”

What do the players do next?

As noted above, the Penn State players will meet with their position coach this week and eventually Franklin. Some must decide if they want to enter the transfer portal or not. After a brief break, they will return to the weight room and prep for summer workouts. Beyond football, there is the spring semester to finish up.

“The coaches and the players, we have to be very intentional about what we do between now and West Virginia,” Franklin said. “They need to have a personal plan. What do I need to get better at, what do I do well? What do I need to work on to be a more complete player?”