Penn State football set for 'honest' conversations on numerous fronts as portal window looms
At his end of spring news conference, Penn State coach James Franklin has, in the past, had no issue sharing the position groups his program might target in the transfer portal before the start of preseason camp. However, this year, he elected not to do so intentionally or not. There’s a good reason for that: While “honest” conversations between players and position coaches start today to set the stage for potential inward and outward movement once the spring transfer portal window opens for undergraduates on Tuesday, being honest at the dais inside the Beaver Stadium south end zone tunnel media room does little good for anyone.
Penn State will be active in the portal. It will also lose some players to it. First up on that list appears to be receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith, who is already expected to enter on Tuesday. Others are sure to join him during the ‘interesting couple of weeks’ that the portal is open through the end of April.
“We’ve had some conversations with some guys already,” Franklin said Saturday. But at the end of the day, you never really know until it happens. I think we got pretty good relationships where guys, for the most part, have been very transparent and honest with us and we do the same thing with them.”
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It sounds good in theory. In practice, it’s harder to work out that way. Players are hearing from all sorts of people these days. Agents. Coaches at other schools (even though it’s against the rules). Old teammates. Family members. It’s a lot to sort through. And, it can lead to massive changes in short order. It’s why Franklin and his staff focus so hard on relationships both in the recruiting process and once a player gets to campus. But, it’s not always a savior when push might come to shove for a player to decide it’s time to move on. All the program can do, though, is hope that honesty and transparency win out in the end, for better or worse.
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“To be honest with you, 99% of the time, what’s good for the individual is good for the team, and vice versa,” Franklin said. “So that’s the good thing that I feel good about as head coach. I can have these conversations and be honest, because the reality is more times than not, maybe not in the short term, maybe not at the time that they want it to be in their schedule in their mind, more times than not it is. “
That seems to be the case with Lambert-Smith. It might be with some others, too. But, Penn State could benefit from that being the case for someone at another school, too. In the end, while Franklin fairly bemoaned the shifting state of college football from transformational to transactional relationships, the Lions will need to benefit from both with the portal to be the best team they can be. Whether or not they pass the test of doing so starts this week.
