Penn State football: Three takeaways from James Franklin's Wednesday media session

Penn State football coach James Franklin met the media Wednesday night before his team’s trip to College Park this weekend to take on Maryland.

Here are the key points from what he had to say.

The growth of Penn State’s young D-linemen

Penn State’s defensive line found itself much maligned for its performance against Illinois, but rebounded quite well last week against Ohio State to keep TreVeyon Henderson in check for much of the game.

A significant part of that improvement came from defensive linemen Coziah Izzard and Dvon Ellies. Both have been thrust into the spotlight after PJ Mustipher’s season ending injury.

A redshirt sophomore, Ellies has spent most of the season as part of the rotation, but Izzard in particular has seen his snap count skyrocket. Izzard, a sophomore, played 107 snaps between Ohio State and Illinois, nearly matching his total for the previous five games.

Curtis Jacobs said he’s proud of how that duo performed against Ohio State, and Franklin offered a positive review of the growth they’ve displayed.

“I [thought Izzard] played pretty well,” Franklin said. “So did the defensive coaches. As he continues to gain more experience and more confidence; he’s a twitchy guy that’s got the size that really you want at that position. It’s hard to find. We’ve been really pleased with him.

“D’von, obviously a year older, has obviously been in the program a little bit longer, has got a little bit better understanding of how and why we do things, but another really talented guy. Both out of Maryland, McDonogh [Ellies] High School and DeMatha [Izzard]. I think both of them have a bright future. Obviously, the scenario [has] changed from the beginning of the year to now, what their role and our expectations are going to be of them.”

Thoughts on the College Football Playoff

A reporter asked Franklin Wednesday whether he thought the College Football Playoff was fair in the wake of the first CFP rankings of the season, which did not include Penn State.

His answer was unequivocal:

No.

“It’s not fair,” Franklin said. “Life is not fair.”

Franklin advocated for two different kinds of change as it relates to the CFP. First, he wants to see more regulation when it comes to whether FBS can play FCS teams, how many conference games each conference plays, among other things.

“Try to get a bunch of people in the room, and they’re trying to decide: Who are the best [teams]?” Franklin said “Some of it is data, but some of it is just your personal preference, right? How can you do that when not everybody’s playing the same number of games, or in a similar situation? I think that’s the first thing [they] need to do. Everybody needs to play eight [conference] games, everybody needs to play nine conference game, everybody plays 10 games. Whatever it is, just make it consistent across the board.”

Franklin acknowledged that there will always be complaints from the first teams left out, but believes standardization needs to occur for the format to make sense.

Curtis Jacobs and his future

Curtis Jacobs became one of the main positive points for the Nittany Lions in their loss to Ohio State.

He was all over the field, impactful both against the run and against the pass from the field linebacker position.

In some ways, the path Jacobs is walking is standardized among Penn State linebackers, and Franklin would like to see him continue to add more to his game to make him versatile.

“I think he’s been on a very similar path that a lot of our guys have gone through,” Franklin said. “They start out to the field, maybe as a freshman, as a backup and you’re kind of rotating them. Them, take that as a starting job. Then, depending on how your body transforms, possibly moving in to the WILL linebacker or moving into the MIKE linebacker, dependent on your control of the defense and understanding of the scheme. I think he’s got the flexibility to do that.

“I think in a perfect world, that’s what you’d like to recruit, kind of three field backers that grow into guys that can play in that box from an experience and from a confidence standpoint. With the way that people are running offenses right now, with spread scheme and all the speed on the field, a lot of people are only playing with two linebackers. We’re one of the few programs that are playing with three linebackers on the field.”