James Franklin details what Penn State accomplished in transfer portal

There is no avoiding the Transfer Portal for college coaches at this point, and with that Penn State head coach James Franklin has worked on coming up with his own approach to using it.

While speaking to the media, Franklin detailed what he feels Penn State has accomplished in the Transfer Portal, as well as what he feels the challenge of navigating the Transfer Portal can be.

“I think you guys know you better embrace the Transfer Portal in college football,” James Franklin said. “I think there’s enough examples of that. But I also think there’s a philosophy behind it, as well.” 

The major concern that James Franklin has is finding the right extent of usage for the Transfer Portal because, as he explained, if you go too heavy on it, then you become reliant on it more consistently each season.

“Are you going to go all transfer portal? The problem is it’s almost like the old days, if you go heavy, heavy junior college, it was almost hard to get out of that because the turnover on your roster was so consistent. It’s the same way with the Transfer Portal,” Franklin said.

“So, we have not been a big transfer portal addition team or subtraction team. I’ve been very, very pleased with that. Obviously, we’re not through it. There’s going to be another wave after spring ball, as we all know. But I’ve been pleased with that. I think we signed about four guys last year. I think we signed about four guys this year.”

Penn State currently has the 21st ranked transfer class, according to the On3 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings. In total, the Nittany Lions have added six players through the portal this cycle while losing seven. Among the key players coming in through the Transfer Portal are Julian Fleming, Nolan Rucci, and AJ Harris.

Beyond players joining Penn State through the Transfer Portal, James Franklin also emphasized the value of players returning to the team from last season. He also emphasized the importance of NIL in this era and using it to take care of the current roster before new players.

“What I would also say that I don’t think people realize, is we’ve had a number of guys that didn’t have to come back to Penn State that also came back to Penn State. I think that is important as anything. That’s as important — maybe more so — than going out into the transfer portal and bringing guys in,” Franklin said.

“As we all know, NIL also plays a major factor in all of this. We want to make sure that, number one, we’re taking care of our current roster first, that’s priority number one. But it is a factor when it comes to the transfer portal and additions in that area, as well. So, that’s something we’re going to have to work really, really hard at. So far, so good. For us, it’s our current roster, which is the priority, holding onto those guys. Then where we do have some obvious holes or needs that we need to fix and maybe bring in experience as complementary pieces. We’ll do that.”

James Franklin reacts to Big Ten, SEC working together on issues

The Big Ten and SEC recently formed a joint-advisory group. It’s a move that James Franklin explained only makes sense to figure out issues the schools are facing.

“Well the first thing is I just think it’s positive that commissioners in a lot of ways are really, you could make the argument maybe, the only people that can really get this thing fixed right now. And I love the fact that the Big Ten and the SEC have stepped up to have a leadership role, a significant leadership role in this and are using their voices,” Franklin said.

“Because as we all know we have have some tremendous challenges right now in college athletics right now as a whole, but specifically college football. So to see our conference and the SEC step up I think it’s really right now is the only solution. So I feel good about it, we have a call this week as a Big Ten, as head coaches and the commissioner, so I think that’ll be important moving forward.”