Watch Penn State head coach James Franklin's complete breakout session from Big Ten Media Days

Penn State head coach James Franklin spoke with the media on the first day of the 2023 Big Ten Media Days. Franklin fielded questions from reporters for roughly 45 minutes after his initial press conference at the podium earlier in the day. Hear his full comments from the second session below or on our YouTube channel.

As always, the best way to never miss a press conference, breaking Penn State news content or our weekly shows is to subscribe to the channel. Coming up tomorrow, reporter Greg Pickel will sit down with Thomas Frank Carr and recap everything he saw and heard at the event. Tune in at 10 am on YouTube to join the show live and ask Greg a question!

Penn State head coach James Franklin at Big Ten Media Days

Earlier in the day, Franklin addressed the state of the Penn State Nittany Lions heading into fall camp. He was optimistic about the team’s chances to push for meaningful games in December and beyond.

“Last year. coming into the season, I felt like we had better depth than we had probably since COVID. We’re back to a more healthy roster than we’re used to. And now I think we’re in a position to give us the best chance to compete in our conference as well as nationally. Just less question marks across the board,” Franklin said.

The comparisons to last year’s Penn State team didn’t end. Franklin brought up the stellar 2022 recruiting class that impacted the season after the first month of competition. He sees a similar possibility this year.

“We were fortunate last year to get a number of true freshmen that were able to come in and impact our team in a really positive way. Hopefully we’ll have a similar number of guys that are able to do that this year as well. Hopefully there will be some names that we’re talking about in a couple weeks, or at least the halfway point through the season that we are not talking about today.”

Deion Barnes almost didn’t get the job

Speaking later in the day, Franklin opened up about his decision to hire Penn State defensive line coach Deion Barnes and gave some frank insight into the hire.

“I’ll be honest with you. We interviewed him and I didn’t think I was going to hire him. He was a player for me and a GA for me. Sometimes coaches feel like players have to leave and come back. But Deion kept growing as a coach, a recruiter, in scheme and philosophy and technology. He had really earned a lot of respect from people in the building. Manny Diaz was a big proponent of his as well. 

We interviewed him and a bunch of established college coaches. We interviewed him and a bunch of established NFL coaches, and we blew them all away. And from that point on, I started looking at Deion as a legitimate candidate for this position.”

As for the current team, the Penn State specialists’ competition has been going on this summer. Franklin wasn’t ready to make any assessments of it in the post-spring practice environment.

“Those guys have been competing all summer. Obviously, we haven’t had a chance to evaluate them really well. They do give me reports on what they think. The specialist and how they would rank each other. There’s a big difference between punting at the Lasch practice facility and at Beaver Stadium on national television. It’ll take some time.

The good thing is there are some things that other positions maybe factor into your decision-making process. But with field goals, it’s pretty clear. They’re going to kick the same exact kicks in practice, and whoever has the better percentage is going to be a good indicator for you. In other positions, there may be some more nuance in the decision-making process.” 

Penn State takes on West Virginia in a 7:30 primetime game to start the year on Sept 2.