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Penn State head coach James Franklin opens spring football: Press conference

Headshot 5x7 reduced qualityby:Thomas Frank Carr•03/12/24•

ThomasFrankCarr

James Franklin Penn State Football On3
Penn State head coach James Franklin detailed the plan at safety and defensive end for spring during his introductory press conference. (Photo: Ryan Snyder/BWI)

Penn State head coach James Franklin spoke with the media on Tuesday to kick off spring football for the Blue and White. Hear Franklin’s full comments on the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel, or embedded in this article. 

Franklin spoke at length about the team’s progress in integrating three new coordinators this offseason and how his staff has worked to flatten the learning curve for the team heading into an important year. 

Join Blue White Illustrated for spring football! Sign up right now to get access to premium content, including the message board and BWI Mailbag. With Franklin speaking on Tuesdays during the spring season, we’re moving our live football show to Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Head over to the mailbag thread right now to submit a question for the show. 

Penn State ready for spring football

Franklin clarified a certain aspect of the offseason, with three new coordinators joining the team this offseason. The coaches’ changes are more about naming plays and organizing their systems to help teach them to players. 

“If we hired these guys and they just came in and dropped their playbook, then we’d start installing and teaching to get those things done. Where I think it was almost painful is sitting in those rooms and grinding for hours about, what is in Penn State’s best interest? Our players best interest? Not what you were comfortable doing [elsewhere]. There’s an opportunity for, say Coach Kotelnicki, to clean some things up to call and term this to put us in the best position to be teachers,” Franklin said. 

Moving Abdul Carter to defensive end

Franklin also explained the move of Penn State linebacker Abdul Carter to defensive end. 

“It’s kind of interesting, right? I remember when we recruited Abdul, I thought he was a defensive end. Abdul and dad were adamant that he’s a linebacker. The reality is we just wanted him in our program. This wasn’t really something from us. This was Abdul, who wanted to make this move, I think for a number of reasons. We lost some defensive ends that were highly productive. We feel really good about the current room. But being able to inject Abdul into that room is going to be positive for us as well. He was on the bubble of struggling to keep his weight at linebacker, him and Kobe [King]. His body was telling him he could make the move if he needed and wanted to, and there’s an opportunity there. This is going to be a win-win for everybody.  

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