James Franklin evaluates progression of Penn State wide receivers

Throughout the season, Penn State head coach James Franklin heard the criticism over his offense’s lack of deep play ability. A huge part of that was the Nittany Lions’ wide receivers seemingly struggling to progress throughout the season.

Franklin did note that he feels the group practiced well ahead of the Peach Bowl but ultimately explained that there were several things that went into the development of the wide receivers this season.

“I actually thought during the bowl period that those guys had a really good bowl period,” James Franklin said. “I thought that was a big part that we were excited about and we made a big deal about with the team.”

In the Peach Bowl, Penn State’s two leading receivers were Tyler Warren and Nick Singleton, a tight end and a running back respectively.

James Franklin pointed out that this offense had a lot of talented players who demanded touches at non-receiver positions. He also emphasized the value of taking advantage of the touches you do get in a game.

“It’s a combination of things. I think we’re really good at tight end. That’s part of it. Then we’ve got to be able to make sure that we translate what we do in practice consistently to the games,” Franklin said.

“One of the things that I think can be challenging is you may not get an opportunity early in the game, but whenever those opportunities come, you’ve got to maximize them. You’ve got to maximize them, and we have not done that consistently enough this year.”

Since the offseason began, Penn State has been active in trying to improve the wide receiver position. Notably, that does include adding Julian Fleming, a five-star recruit from the Class of 2020 who played for Ohio State last season.

James Franklin on officiating in the Peach Bowl

In the end, Penn State lost to Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl. However, James Franklin had plenty of thoughts on the game’s officiating.

“I won’t get into all the details. I thought the officiating was less than desirable. That first drive, we have the field goal, we run a slant, we get turned around, but I’ll move on. I could list out a number of examples. That’s a big play in that game at a critical moment, starting out with a touchdown rather than a field goal is significant. But I’ll move on,” Franklin said.

“Specifically to the game, just too many moving parts with the staff and with the players against a good team. Too many moving parts, staff and players, to have the type of success that we wanted to have today.”