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Penn State football sets 2025 spring practice schedule

Mug-Shot 4x4by:Ryan Snyder•02/17/25•

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Penn State quarterback Drew Allar speaks with offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki during the first day of spring practice in 2024. (Credit: Ryan Snyder | Blue White Illustrated)

Penn State head coach James Franklin has locked in his team’s spring practice schedule. With the annual Blue-White Game set to take place a week later this year on April 26, the Nittany Lions have set Tuesday, March 25, as the first day for spring practice.

This is the latest the team has ever started its spring program under Franklin’s leadership, with March 22, 2017, previously being the latest. However, that was also the second to last week of the month that year, making this the first time they’ll start practicing in the last week of March.

Back in 2023, Franklin explained that he’d prefer to not start spring practice right after spring break, but because of the way the way the calendar fell the past few years, he didn’t have a choice.

“We usually will try to come back from spring break and have one or two [winter workout] sessions to get the sinning out of them and then get into spring ball,” Franklin said. He went on to add, “Sometimes people break up spring ball into a few days before spring break and finish it afterward. We have always tried to do it after spring break, but still give us enough time to get out on the road recruiting.”

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Changes to the recruiting calendar also played a role in allowing Penn State to start and finish spring practice later in the year. In April 2023, the NCAA reduced the number of days that coaches were allowed out on the road in the spring from 168 to 140. The 2024 calendar was the year for that change. This year’s contact period begins on April 15 and is set to end just before Memorial Day on May 24.

In recent years, more and more schools have elected to not play a spring game. Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule made news earlier this month when he discussed why he’s against the idea.

That won’t be the case at Penn State this year, but Franklin did say that the event could look a bit different after the team played 16 games this past season.

“We will still have the spring game, because I know what it means to this community and the hotels and the bars and the restaurants and the tailgating, all of it,” Franklin said. “We’re working on that now. We may do some more events. We’re still working through that.

“The spring game, we will wait to talk about that in more detail so that myself, the coaches, the administration, everybody’s on the same page. I think a lot of you guys know at a place like Penn State, I locked my date in for the spring game a while ago. There’s so many things at the university that are built around the game, in terms of development, fundraising, all types of events that the university has.”

Penn State’s 2025 Spring Practice Schedule

Tuesday – March 25
Thursday – March 27
Saturday – March 29
Tuesday – April 1
Thursday – April 3
Saturday – April 5
Tuesday – April 8
Thursday – April 10
Saturday – April 12
Tuesday – April 15
Friday – April 18
Monday – April 21
Wednesday – April 23
Friday – April 25
Saturday – April 26 (Blue-White Game)

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