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Franklin's comments after Wednesday practice

T

tboyer

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Sep 25, 2002
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Thought it was odd this hasn't gotten more attention -- it's good news.

After just a couple days of practice Franklin said last night all three of his big question marks going into the season are starting to be answered -- DT, placekicking and LB. Freshman kickers are doing very well. Young DTs are ahead of where he thought they'd be. Pieces falling into place at LB -- says Bowen has looked really good.

The fact that he's mentioning Bowen by name kind of validates the notion that the coaches are ready to use him a lot.

There's a freshman walk-on kicker I never heard of, Rafael Cheka, who hasn't missed a kick at practice yet. So Pinegar, who is apparently looking good, is going to have real competition.

I think it's about as good news as we could have at this stage. If they have these three areas handled, this team has everything they need -- the offense may have to carry them early, but they have the athletes to be great on D by mid-season.

https://247sports.com/college/penn-...h-Parsons-Jahan-Dotson-Manny-Bowen-120511833/
 
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tboyer said:
Thought it was odd this hasn't gotten more attention -- it's good news.

After just a couple days of practice Franklin said last night all three of his big question marks going into the season are starting to be answered -- DT, placekicking and LB. Freshman kickers are doing very well. Young DTs are ahead of where he thought they'd be. Pieces falling into place at LB -- says Bowen has looked really good.

The fact that he's mentioning Bowen by name kind of validates the notion that the coaches are ready to use him a lot.

There's a freshman walk-on kicker I never heard of, Rafael Cheka, who hasn't missed a kick at practice yet. So Pinegar, who is apparently looking good, is going to have real competition.

I think it's about as good news as we could have at this stage. If they have these three areas handled, this team has everything they need -- the offense may have to carry them early, but they have the athletes to be great on D by mid-season.

https://247sports.com/college/penn-...h-Parsons-Jahan-Dotson-Manny-Bowen-120511833/
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Actually, I was also a little bit concerned about our receivers. Gesicki was a mismatch nightmare. But after seeing that video of Shorter yesterday, I feel a heck of a lot better! : ^ )
 
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stormingnorm said:
In other news:

The Coaches of the other 13 Big Ten squads have stated that their early practices indicate most of the squad have reported out of shape... and that they lack athleticism throughout the roster.
Those positions that they were most concerned about appear to be a total disaster, and areas of the team that were strengths last year are now looking like question marks.


:)
Click to expand...
Link?

seriously, I am willing to bet CJF and the staff have not been nearly as complimentary to the kids while they are practicing.
 
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stormingnorm said:
In other news:

The Coaches of the other 13 Big Ten squads have stated that their early practices indicate most of the squad have reported out of shape... and that they lack athleticism throughout the roster.
Those positions that they were most concerned about appear to be a total disaster, and areas of the team that were strengths last year are now looking like question marks.


:)
Click to expand...
LOL you are right on - there is not a football team in America that doesn't report to pre-season camp "bigger, faster, and stronger" than they have ever been.
 
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Obliviax said:
Link?
seriously, I am willing to bet CJF and the staff have not been nearly as complimentary to the kids while they are practicing.
Click to expand...

He definitely follows the "praise publicly, criticize privately" rule.

He couldn't be more different from Paterno in his public comments though. Paterno was so worried about players getting a big head, so he never said anything good about a young player, tended to only compliment upperclassmen and he often said the nicest things about seniors who were not very good. And if he got pressed on super talented young players (like Arrington) he'd just kind of grumble about them. It was Paterno's old school way of trying to motivate people -- right out of the Lombardi playbook.

In public you generally only hear positives from Franklin but there is ruthless honesty to it, because if he's not happy with a player it's obvious because he never mentions them.

All this is very intentional and planned. Heck, they may have studied sports psychology best practices on how to motivate players.

I don't think Franklin is doing these press availabilities for the benefit of the reporters (or us, for that matter). I think it is primarily about player development. I suspect there are players killing themselves at practice hoping that Franklin will just mention their name some day, or hoping PSU will release a video of them.
 
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tboyer said:
He definitely follows the "praise publicly, criticize privately" rule.

He couldn't be more different from Paterno in his public comments though. Paterno was so worried about players getting a big head, so he never said anything good about a young player, tended to only compliment upperclassmen and he often said the nicest things about seniors who were not very good. And if he got pressed on super talented young players (like Arrington) he'd just kind of grumble about them. It was Paterno's old school way of trying to motivate people -- right out of the Lombardi playbook.

Clearly Franklin is only going to say positive things publicly but there is kind of an honesty to it. If he is not happy with a player or a unit you can tell it pretty clearly because he'll never mention them by name.

All this is very intentional and planned. Heck, they may have studied sports psychology best practices on how to motivate players.

I don't think Franklin is doing these press availabilities for the benefit of the reporters (or us, for that matter). I think it is primarily about player development. I suspect there are players killing themselves at practice hoping that Franklin will just mention their name some day, or hoping PSU will release a video of them.
Click to expand...
Agree...but it is a different era. I think CJF's style bodes well in recruiting kids against old school coaches like Michigan and Alabama. I see employers being much less critical these days, as well.
 
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tboyer said:
Thought it was odd this hasn't gotten more attention -- it's good news.

After just a couple days of practice Franklin said last night all three of his big question marks going into the season are starting to be answered -- DT, placekicking and LB. Freshman kickers are doing very well. Young DTs are ahead of where he thought they'd be. Pieces falling into place at LB -- says Bowen has looked really good.

The fact that he's mentioning Bowen by name kind of validates the notion that the coaches are ready to use him a lot.

There's a freshman walk-on kicker I never heard of, Rafael Cheka, who hasn't missed a kick at practice yet. So Pinegar, who is apparently looking good, is going to have real competition.

I think it's about as good news as we could have at this stage. If they have these three areas handled, this team has everything they need -- the offense may have to carry them early, but they have the athletes to be great on D by mid-season.

https://247sports.com/college/penn-...h-Parsons-Jahan-Dotson-Manny-Bowen-120511833/
Click to expand...
Great news. Thanks for the link.
Kicker was really the biggest concern of mine going into camp.
LB is starting to take shape. Might look like this now :

WLB : Brown, Parsons, Cooper
MLB : Bowen or Johnson, Brooks or Luketa
SLB : Farmer, Miller, Dairen or Faison - Walden
Gotta like the developing depth we are seeing there.
 
Last edited:
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83wuzme said:
Great news. Thanks for the link.
Kicker was really the biggest concern of mine going into camp.
LB is starting to take shape. Might look like this now :

WLB : Brown, Parsons, Cooper
MLB : Bowen or Johnson, Luketa
SLB : Farmer, Miller, Dairen or Faison - Walden
Gotta like the developing depth we are seeing there.
Click to expand...
hate to be Mr. Negative but great practice kickers are a dime a dozen. We won't know how good our kicker is until he kicks in a game. More-so, with the game on the line. But it sounds as good as we can expect at this time.
 
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Obliviax said:
Agree...but it is a different era. I think CJF's style bodes well in recruiting kids against old school coaches like Michigan and Alabama. I see employers being much less critical these days, as well.
Click to expand...

LOL, they have to be or else the Millenials will start crying in the corner.
Most of the ones that have been hired where I work last about the first pay check and then are
out the door.
I'm a Graphic Designer and they can't work under pressure and are highly sensitive to any criticism. Those are not the attributes that will ensure success or longevity in this field. SMH.
 
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Obliviax said:
hate to be Mr. Negative but great practice kickers are a dime a dozen. We won't know how good our kicker is until he kicks in a game. More-so, with the game on the line. But it sounds as good as we can expect at this time.
Click to expand...

Well let me be Mr. Glass half full. The kickers in the spring (not these guys) weren't even making them in practice.
I love the idea that Franklin is using Arena League Goal posts for practice.
 
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BBrown said:
Well let me be Mr. Glass half full. The kickers in the spring (not these guys) weren't even making them in practice.
I love the idea that Franklin is using Arena League Goal posts for practice.
Click to expand...

I guess that's it, right. You'd sure rather have them making them in practice than not.
 
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Obliviax said:
hate to be Mr. Negative but great practice kickers are a dime a dozen. We won't know how good our kicker is until he kicks in a game. More-so, with the game on the line. But it sounds as good as we can expect at this time.
Click to expand...

It's very good news relative to where the team was 2 weeks ago.

Absolutely, I don't know if I could even tie my shoes with 110,000 people watching. So you have 4-5 kickers at camp hoping that 1 can do it in games.

The other position where this is particularly true is QB I think -- you can just never tell about QBs, they can do everything right in practice and can't handle game speed or excel under pressure. So you have 4, maybe 5 QBs on the roster and hopefully one of them can play.
 
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Obliviax said:
hate to be Mr. Negative but great practice kickers are a dime a dozen.
Click to expand...
I want a guy putting the ball 5 yards deep into the end zone, or 1 yard deep into the end zone but with height and not returnable. Starting at the 20 for our defense is a major plus.
But, yes, with less than a minute to go and hitting a 37-yard FG to go up by 8 on September 29, will be the test you are looking for, Obli.

OL
 
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tboyer said:
He definitely follows the "praise publicly, criticize privately" rule.

He couldn't be more different from Paterno in his public comments though. Paterno was so worried about players getting a big head, so he never said anything good about a young player, tended to only compliment upperclassmen and he often said the nicest things about seniors who were not very good. And if he got pressed on super talented young players (like Arrington) he'd just kind of grumble about them. It was Paterno's old school way of trying to motivate people -- right out of the Lombardi playbook.

In public you generally only hear positives from Franklin but there is ruthless honesty to it, because if he's not happy with a player it's obvious because he never mentions them.

All this is very intentional and planned. Heck, they may have studied sports psychology best practices on how to motivate players.

I don't think Franklin is doing these press availabilities for the benefit of the reporters (or us, for that matter). I think it is primarily about player development. I suspect there are players killing themselves at practice hoping that Franklin will just mention their name some day, or hoping PSU will release a video of them.
Click to expand...

Franklin has a bachelor's degree in Psychology
 
83wuzme said:
LB is starting to take shape. Might look like this now :

WLB : Brown, Parsons, Cooper
MLB : Bowen or Johnson, Luketa
SLB : Farmer, Miller, Dairen or Faison - Walden
Gotta like the developing depth we are seeing there.
Click to expand...
So what happened to Brooks? I would probably put him at MLB ahead of Luketa who could learn the system while taking a red-shirt and battle Brooks for starter in 2019.
 
joeparules said:
So what happened to Brooks? I would probably put him at MLB ahead of Luketa who could learn the system while taking a red-shirt and battle Brooks for starter in 2019.
Click to expand...
We have so much depth, I forgot about Brooks. I would put him or Luketa behind Bowen and Johnson.
 
tboyer said:
Thought it was odd this hasn't gotten more attention -- it's good news.

After just a couple days of practice Franklin said last night all three of his big question marks going into the season are starting to be answered -- DT, placekicking and LB. Freshman kickers are doing very well. Young DTs are ahead of where he thought they'd be. Pieces falling into place at LB -- says Bowen has looked really good.

The fact that he's mentioning Bowen by name kind of validates the notion that the coaches are ready to use him a lot.

There's a freshman walk-on kicker I never heard of, Rafael Cheka, who hasn't missed a kick at practice yet. So Pinegar, who is apparently looking good, is going to have real competition.

I think it's about as good news as we could have at this stage. If they have these three areas handled, this team has everything they need -- the offense may have to carry them early, but they have the athletes to be great on D by mid-season.

https://247sports.com/college/penn-...h-Parsons-Jahan-Dotson-Manny-Bowen-120511833/
Click to expand...

I agree that the fact he's already mentioning Bowen's name to the press means Bowen is going to play a lot sooner than some people thought.

That's huge.
 
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stormingnorm said:
In other news:

The Coaches of the other 13 Big Ten squads have stated that their early practices indicate most of the squad have reported out of shape... and that they lack athleticism throughout the roster.
Those positions that they were most concerned about appear to be a total disaster, and areas of the team that were strengths last year are now looking like question marks.


:)
Click to expand...
Damn! Wouldn't we prefer that all of our opponents would also be looking their best so that they would all be extremely competitive. Your 'news' is not good for our guys …… now, they'll get lazy and stop working so hard!
 
ftlpsu said:
"We gotta long way to go-we're not there yet"
Click to expand...

"We were a little out of whack out there."
"Publicity is like poison, it doesn't hurt you unless you swallow it"
"It's one of the youngest teams we've had in a long time, and they might get licked by that Appalachian State squad, which is one of the better teams I've seen in college football in recent years."

I do miss the guy.
 
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stormingnorm said:
In other news:

The Coaches of the other 13 Big Ten squads have stated that their early practices indicate most of the squad have reported out of shape... and that they lack athleticism throughout the roster.
Those positions that they were most concerned about appear to be a total disaster, and areas of the team that were strengths last year are now looking like question marks.


:)
Click to expand...

I know you are joking but Paterno used to downplay his team in the media all the time.
 
tboyer said:
Thought it was odd this hasn't gotten more attention -- it's good news.

After just a couple days of practice Franklin said last night all three of his big question marks going into the season are starting to be answered -- DT, placekicking and LB. Freshman kickers are doing very well. Young DTs are ahead of where he thought they'd be. Pieces falling into place at LB -- says Bowen has looked really good.

The fact that he's mentioning Bowen by name kind of validates the notion that the coaches are ready to use him a lot.

There's a freshman walk-on kicker I never heard of, Rafael Cheka, who hasn't missed a kick at practice yet. So Pinegar, who is apparently looking good, is going to have real competition.

I think it's about as good news as we could have at this stage. If they have these three areas handled, this team has everything they need -- the offense may have to carry them early, but they have the athletes to be great on D by mid-season.

https://247sports.com/college/penn-...h-Parsons-Jahan-Dotson-Manny-Bowen-120511833/
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting--loved the 4:08 mark! Reminds me of old school coaching! Love it...goose bumps over Franklin jumpin in peoples asses in front of people--Accountability!
 
Last edited:
tboyer said:
Thought it was odd this hasn't gotten more attention -- it's good news.

After just a couple days of practice Franklin said last night all three of his big question marks going into the season are starting to be answered -- DT, placekicking and LB. Freshman kickers are doing very well. Young DTs are ahead of where he thought they'd be. Pieces falling into place at LB -- says Bowen has looked really good.

The fact that he's mentioning Bowen by name kind of validates the notion that the coaches are ready to use him a lot.

There's a freshman walk-on kicker I never heard of, Rafael Cheka, who hasn't missed a kick at practice yet. So Pinegar, who is apparently looking good, is going to have real competition.

I think it's about as good news as we could have at this stage. If they have these three areas handled, this team has everything they need -- the offense may have to carry them early, but they have the athletes to be great on D by mid-season.

https://247sports.com/college/penn-...h-Parsons-Jahan-Dotson-Manny-Bowen-120511833/
Click to expand...
Thanks very much
 
ftlpsu said:
Thanks for posting--loved the 4:08 Mark! Reminds me of old school coaching! Love it...goose bumps over Franklin jumpin in peoples asses in front of people--Accountability!
Click to expand...
Looks like 4:09 to me. ;-)
 
Obliviax said:
hate to be Mr. Negative but great practice kickers are a dime a dozen. We won't know how good our kicker is until he kicks in a game. More-so, with the game on the line. But it sounds as good as we can expect at this time.
Click to expand...

Davis was pretty bad last year (9 of 17, but only 3 of 10 from 30 yards or more -- 1 of 5 in the 30's, 2 of 5 in the 40's with a long of 47). He was 71 of 71 on extra points though. If one of these freshmen can make their extra points and be better than 70% from 40 yards and in, we'll be fine in this department.
 
tboyer said:
"We were a little out of whack out there."
"Publicity is like poison, it doesn't hurt you unless you swallow it"
"It's one of the youngest teams we've had in a long time, and they might get licked by that Appalachian State squad, which is one of the better teams I've seen in college football in recent years."

I do miss the guy.
Click to expand...

Hahaha...

Good post tboyer.

Our faithful fans understood and appreciated “JoePa Speak.”

Those who took him too literally missed out on the messages of a very good communicator and motivator.

He took the arrows when things went badly. His style was designed to promote continuous improvements in the lives of young men. It worked very well.

​
 
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James has always been a straight shooter when it comes to what he shares about his team - though he’s gotten a little more detailed as time has gone on. He’s never been afraid to tell the media who is leading in a position battle, who has been having good practices, or whether the team had a bad practice on any given day. He hasn’t and probably won’t ever be more forthcoming about injuries and who is missing games for disciplinary reasons than he is required to, but that’s okay.

It’s a stylistic preference, and Joe certainly provided entertainment value with the hemming and hawing “Ah, I don’t know, (senior walk-on) is giving (all-conference returning starter) a real run for his money!” persona. But James has called it like he’s seen it since he got here when it comes to who is where on the depth chart.
 
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