Penn State coach James Franklin post-spring practice scrum: April 6

Penn State head coach James Franklin met with the media for the third time this spring on Wednesday evening.

His Nittany Lions, fresh off another spring practice earlier in the afternoon, are at the halfway point leading into April 23’s Blue-White Game. And, as Franklin would tell the media, progress continues to be made within the Penn State football program.

What has stood out to Franklin so far about Penn State’s spring practices?

Check out Franklin’s post-practice interview session in its entirety, with a partial transcript provided, below:

Penn State coach James Franklin post-practice video

James Franklin post-practice partial transcript

On Adisa Isaac and Sal Wormley:

“Obviously this time of year, we can be a little patient. We’re not a team or program that, from a medical perspective, our trainers and doctors this time of year are going to be pretty conservative and not rush those guys back. But what’s nice is, they were able to come out here first couple of days, do some individual, then do some control work like one on ones, then be able to work in into team.

“They’re still not like full go. They’re doing all the drills, they’re doing every aspect, but we’re still limiting the reps.

“But I think you guys know, Adisa two years ago played at a really high level, so losing him last year was a significant loss for us. So having him back is exciting. And then, because it kind of happened before you guys were able to see a whole lot, Saleem was really slotted to be a starter for us when he got the injury. He was playing at a really high level. He was practicing well and doing some really good things. So that was a significant loss for us as well.

“So having both of those guys back is great. The jog through and a walkthrough reps have been really good. We’ve been able to keep them involved mentally as much as possible. But we got to keep building with those two guys.”

On Manny Diaz’s comfort level as DC:

“I think it’s growing. Obviously it’s nowhere where we’ll be this far into camp. But I think it’s growing. I think he’s done a really good job in meetings. He’s got a presence tool. I like how he views the game of football and how he leads.

“I think the tweaks that we’ve made on defense I think are going to be really beneficial to us. I know the coaches and the players like it. But it’s been good. Obviously there’s still a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball and there’s still a lot of work to do. There’s still a lot of time between now and Purdue. I say that but as we all know, we’ll blink and it’ll be here.”

On Penn State’s needs along the defensive line:

“I think edge pressure is probably the area we have to improve. Adisa is the one guy that flashes consistently. There’s other guys. You see Smith Vilbert obviously had three sacks in the bowl game. But it needs to be more consistent.

“Tarburton is kind of a guy who’s gonna wear people down and do it with effort and do it with motor. His skills and his technique continue to grow. We probably need to continue to kind of grow his toolbox of moves on the perimeter. But we need more consistent edge pressure.

“So between developing the guys we have and then obviously we’re looking into the portal a little bit for that as well, very similar to what we did with AK. We got to find somebody that can come in and help us with edge pressure and affecting the quarterback.”