Penn State head coach James Franklin and the Nittany Lion football program opened the doors to the Lasch complex Wednesday evening for its weekly partial media availability.
Let’s go through some of the news and notes items from the evening as well as some of Franklin’s remarks, here:
1) We really only ever see two-minute offense and defense most Wednesday nights, and this evening was no different as the Nittany Lions lined up the first and second team offenses against the first and second team defenses.
Once the team wrapped up, Franklin discussed briefly what the situation was that he had the units working through. It was Penn State, starting from its own 10-yard line, with 2 minutes, 25 seconds left to play at the end of the first half, trailing 28-7.
Sound familiar?
It should, as that was the situation the Nittany Lions faced late in the first half in Indianapolis as they took on Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Wednesday night’s outcome was far different from the one that saw the Nittany Lions traverse 90 yards in a minute and 27 seconds on eight plays, capped by the Trace McSorley to Saeed Blacknall 40-yard touchdown with 58 seconds left to play in the half.
Instead, the defense really hammered the offense in every sense of the word, stopping both groups without allowing a first down.
Meeting with the media following practice, Franklin described what he believed was a perfect example of just how competitive Penn State’s practices have been throughout the preseason and into the start of the regular season.
“Our practices are very competitive. I think all camp we’ve had a situation where there are periods where the defense is fighting like crazy with the offense. Periods where the offense is fighting. It’s never really one-sided,” said Franklin. “I think that’s where our program has changed. In that two-minute situation our defense did a really good job. Theres no doubt about it. I think the practices in general are really competitive.”
2) Not that this next note should come as any surprise — it shouldn’t — but it’s almost like Franklin is attempting to train the media that covers the team as much as he has his own team.
The point being, Franklin was asked about comments from head coach Pat Narduzzi at Pitt guarding against allowing his Panthers to get overhyped for this weekend’s game. Coming off a Tuesday press conference in which Franklin went to great lengths to explain his philosophy of an even keel, not just regarding the game of football and each week’s opponents, but also in life, Franklin again did his best to make an example of the how and why that dictates his attitude toward a game like this weekend’s.
“Why would this game be any different? We’re going to keep it the same as we always do,” said Franklin, turning his attention instead to the interactions that are beginning to concern him between the two fan bases. “The thing that I’m probably concerned about, I spend very little being concerned about because i can’t control it. It’s all the things on the social media right now, it’s all the fans, it’s stuff that I wish wasn’t going on. I want to insulate our players as much as they possibly can to keep them focused on what we do. That’s why our approach is the way it is. That stuff I can’t control it so I don’t spend too much time concerned about it because I can’t change it. I can’t shut them off from it. I can’t control what other people do. I don’t think spend a whole lot of time focused on it, to be honest with you. It is what it is.”
3) Sizing up this week’s practice effort so far, Franklin reiterated one of the themes from his press conference last week in which he explained the difficulty in meeting the practice intensity needed at the start of the season.
Calling Tuesday practices especially difficult because of the completely new schemes and plays needed to run the scout teams, Franklin said he’s been pleased with the business-like attitude of the team but still is hoping to see more.
“I’d like to see us have a little bit more energy,” he said. “But it wasn’t a problem. The film was really good, the practice was really good, just what we did last year isn’t good enough anymore. What we did last week isn’t good enough anymore. We want to take it to another level.
“We’re very focused, we’re very locked in. I thought today was better. I thought there was more juice, more energy, there was more emotion. So far, I felt good about it.”
4) One of the individual shoutouts Franklin gave to the rest of the team for his performance at practice on Wednesday went to Daniel Joseph.
The redshirt freshman didn’t record a statistic in Saturday’s 52-0 win for the Nittany Lions against the Zips, but he did see the field and has, apparently, made an impression for his practice performances this week.
5) Second-team OL:
RT - Andy Nelson
RG - Mike Menet
C - Zach Simpson
RG - Mike Miranda
RT - Alex Gellerstedt
And, one more personnel note: Saeed Blacknall running second team. Hammy, Thompkins and Juwan Johnson still your leaders among the wideouts.
Those are my notes for the night. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, I’ll be happy to answer them as best as I can.
Photo gallery and video coming shortly.
Let’s go through some of the news and notes items from the evening as well as some of Franklin’s remarks, here:
1) We really only ever see two-minute offense and defense most Wednesday nights, and this evening was no different as the Nittany Lions lined up the first and second team offenses against the first and second team defenses.
Once the team wrapped up, Franklin discussed briefly what the situation was that he had the units working through. It was Penn State, starting from its own 10-yard line, with 2 minutes, 25 seconds left to play at the end of the first half, trailing 28-7.
Sound familiar?
It should, as that was the situation the Nittany Lions faced late in the first half in Indianapolis as they took on Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Wednesday night’s outcome was far different from the one that saw the Nittany Lions traverse 90 yards in a minute and 27 seconds on eight plays, capped by the Trace McSorley to Saeed Blacknall 40-yard touchdown with 58 seconds left to play in the half.
Instead, the defense really hammered the offense in every sense of the word, stopping both groups without allowing a first down.
Meeting with the media following practice, Franklin described what he believed was a perfect example of just how competitive Penn State’s practices have been throughout the preseason and into the start of the regular season.
“Our practices are very competitive. I think all camp we’ve had a situation where there are periods where the defense is fighting like crazy with the offense. Periods where the offense is fighting. It’s never really one-sided,” said Franklin. “I think that’s where our program has changed. In that two-minute situation our defense did a really good job. Theres no doubt about it. I think the practices in general are really competitive.”
2) Not that this next note should come as any surprise — it shouldn’t — but it’s almost like Franklin is attempting to train the media that covers the team as much as he has his own team.
The point being, Franklin was asked about comments from head coach Pat Narduzzi at Pitt guarding against allowing his Panthers to get overhyped for this weekend’s game. Coming off a Tuesday press conference in which Franklin went to great lengths to explain his philosophy of an even keel, not just regarding the game of football and each week’s opponents, but also in life, Franklin again did his best to make an example of the how and why that dictates his attitude toward a game like this weekend’s.
“Why would this game be any different? We’re going to keep it the same as we always do,” said Franklin, turning his attention instead to the interactions that are beginning to concern him between the two fan bases. “The thing that I’m probably concerned about, I spend very little being concerned about because i can’t control it. It’s all the things on the social media right now, it’s all the fans, it’s stuff that I wish wasn’t going on. I want to insulate our players as much as they possibly can to keep them focused on what we do. That’s why our approach is the way it is. That stuff I can’t control it so I don’t spend too much time concerned about it because I can’t change it. I can’t shut them off from it. I can’t control what other people do. I don’t think spend a whole lot of time focused on it, to be honest with you. It is what it is.”
3) Sizing up this week’s practice effort so far, Franklin reiterated one of the themes from his press conference last week in which he explained the difficulty in meeting the practice intensity needed at the start of the season.
Calling Tuesday practices especially difficult because of the completely new schemes and plays needed to run the scout teams, Franklin said he’s been pleased with the business-like attitude of the team but still is hoping to see more.
“I’d like to see us have a little bit more energy,” he said. “But it wasn’t a problem. The film was really good, the practice was really good, just what we did last year isn’t good enough anymore. What we did last week isn’t good enough anymore. We want to take it to another level.
“We’re very focused, we’re very locked in. I thought today was better. I thought there was more juice, more energy, there was more emotion. So far, I felt good about it.”
4) One of the individual shoutouts Franklin gave to the rest of the team for his performance at practice on Wednesday went to Daniel Joseph.
The redshirt freshman didn’t record a statistic in Saturday’s 52-0 win for the Nittany Lions against the Zips, but he did see the field and has, apparently, made an impression for his practice performances this week.
5) Second-team OL:
RT - Andy Nelson
RG - Mike Menet
C - Zach Simpson
RG - Mike Miranda
RT - Alex Gellerstedt
And, one more personnel note: Saeed Blacknall running second team. Hammy, Thompkins and Juwan Johnson still your leaders among the wideouts.
Those are my notes for the night. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, I’ll be happy to answer them as best as I can.
Photo gallery and video coming shortly.
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