For those who follow along at home - change of schedule going forward. James Franklin starting next week will meet with the media every MONDAY at NOON.
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Decisive or devisive?Franklin tells us that he doesn't try to avoid answering some personnel questions and that it's a delicate balance between answering questions and not being decisive like some coaches have done in the past .... (maybe like we saw this weekend with a certain coach on the western side of the state).
Divisive. Sorry about that.Decisive or devisive?
But Narduzzi said the PSU offense was simple and easy to grasp.Penn State has not considered using Daequan Hardy on offense. Noting its complex and not as easy as it sounds.
Someone read this board, I proposed this last week.Penn State has not considered using Daequan Hardy on offense. Noting its complex and not as easy as it sounds.
As good as Dotson was with the ball in his hands he does not have the moves and anticipation on punt returns that Hardy has displayed. And how many punt returns for TD's did Dotson have in his 2 years (??) as a punt returner? It's hard to believe that based on Hardy's high school career that the staff would not have given him a couple chances in games in his first or 2nd year at PSU. Franklin stresses catching the ball as the top priority and that's logical and reasonable. But unless Hardy was dropping a disproportionate amount of punts in practice his absense for 4.5 years is a head scratcher. If Hardy was returning punts earlier in his career that would have freed up Dotson from the job and may have led to him being fresher during games when he was the only true standout WR. Same goes last year when Washington was PSU's clearly PSU's best WR and might have been an even bigger contributor at WR if he wasn't returning punts.Franklin notes that while it did take a while for Daequan Hardy to get to return punts, Penn State has had quite a few good punt returners over the last few years.
Hardy could have returned punts 5 years at PSU and had 5 or 6 TD's by now......
Not sure what you really mean by "reach type player". As Franklin has regularly stated, every player is an equal recruit from the moment they step on the practice field. Hardy dominated 5A football in PA as a senior and had TD's in 4 (as I remember) different ways in the championship game. As dynamic a player as there was in PA high school football that year with the only question about him being his size which he as obviously proven not to be much of a limitation.The general consensus on Hardy all along was that he was a reach type player. He's actually gotten far more praise this year than any prior. Most have seen him as a liability in the slot. I can't imagine anyone desiring to take Dotson off the field for Hardy. If he was tired because he ran back 3-4 punts, that's a separate problem.
Washington I can agree with.
Not sure what you really mean by "reach type player". As Franklin has regularly stated, every player is an equal recruit from the moment they step on the practice field. Hardy dominated 5A football in PA as a senior and had TD's in 4 (as I remember) different ways in the championship game. As dynamic a player as there was in PA high school football that year with the only question about him being his size which he as obviously proven not to be much of a limitation.
Dotson was a very good punt returner. But Hardy has shown to be even better. How many games did it take for Dotson to get to 2 punt return TD's, if he even did return 2 for TD's? And Dotson was not returning punts during the whole time Hardy was at PSU.
His quickness, speed and athleticism are as a high school player were not questioned. My comment about returning punts has nothing to do with his play on defense. It's about getting more out of special teams, particularly punt returns, which is an area that I believe Franklin has left money on the table during his tenure at PSU.
Yes, I was "on record". For years. Don't turn into a Board Nanny that seems to believe if he hasn't documented it didn't happen.You may be accurate in that it's possible we have left money on the table with punt returns, but I think it's possibly an overreaction to Hardy having 2 vs UMass.
Were you or anyone ever on record saying he should have been used prior to his UMass game? I don't remember it.
And of his class, he was the lowest rated player by a good margin. That's definitely in reach territory. I'm just speaking about the reality of it.
So last year is the year you question. Because Dotson returned punts in '20 and '21 I think.
Yes, I was "on record". For years. Don't turn into a Board Nanny that seems to believe if he hasn't documented it didn't happen.
I watched Hardy in high school and he was electric then. And he looked pretty electric in his first game returning punts at PSU. And looked like the best punt returner at PSU in some time. Including Dotson, who was very good, especially in comparison to some of the players that Franklin put back there and were really only solid fair catch machines.
Dotson also played against his share of suck teams so any argument about Hardy getting 2 TDs against a suck team is baseless. Dotson was pretty good but not an All-American punt returner.
No, last year is not the only year I questioned where Hardy's playmaking was hiding.
But if it was, so what? The question is valid at any time once it is shown that the staff has failed to recognize and get on the field a playmaker. And the longer it has gone on the stupider it looks. PSU has not exactly had a surplus of playmakers the last few year. And it might make someone think that if the staff couldn't figure out they had their best punt returner on the bench, maybe they have a good WR on the bench. Another position where performance has seemed to underachieve the last few seasons.
D. Hardy up 10 lbs to 176. Positive comments about him from Smith. Hardy was an excellent punt returner at Penn Hills and should compete for that job going forward