Everything Penn State coach James Franklin said on Wednesday before Villanova

Penn State coach James Franklin held his final news conference of Villanova week on Wednesday night. The Nittany Lions meet the Wildcats at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. FOX Sports One is televising the contest. The first question the 12th-year leader of the program received focused on redshirt freshman Quinton Martin Jr., and whether or not he’d be available to play this weekend.

“He was banged up, so that’s why he was not available,” Franklin said. “But yeah, we expect and anticipate [him being available]. He’s been part of that battle. There are three guys battling for that number three job. He’s part of it, but wasn’t part of the battle for a period of time there because of bumps and bruises.”

Asked if he was OK with having a rotation at his RB3 spot instead of having a set guy, Franklin said:

“You’d like for somebody to take the job, right? But if not, we’ll just keep rotating until somebody does.”

You can read everything else he said on Wednesday night below.

On the Big Ten coaches being against the single transfer portal window change and Ryan Day’s opinion on it

“I think there’s a decent amount of, I don’t know if I would describe it as coordination, but when we go to Big Ten meetings, we have discussions about this. As you know, I really don’t want to talk about a whole lot other than Villanova, but I get the question. I think it really just comes down to that he feels, and I think most of the coaches in the Big Ten feel, that you don’t want to be playing a season and dealing with the transfer portal at the same time. I think there’s some other conferences that probably wouldn’t disagree with that, but it’s hard to find a spot in the calendar that makes sense for everybody based on all the different academic calendars. But I don’t think anybody thinks it’s a good idea to have it, but we’re in the season, right? So, I gave you a little bit, but I prefer to just talk about Villanova.

On getting to work the Penn State run game against a multiple-front like Villanova’s defense

“This is different than, like, odd. This is three stack. They are constantly moving, spiking, slanting, twisting, and it’s smart, right? Like a lot of times, it’s hard to get defensive linemen. So you can go to this system and then just create chaos and get guys running free. That helps. The other thing it does is, if you don’t approach it the right way, it slows down the offensive line, because they’re worried about all the movement, so then they’re tentative, so now they don’t come off the ball the way you want them to come off the ball. So there’s a method to their madness, and it creates some challenges, but that’s also where we’ve been working odd front all the way from the summer. It’s harder when you don’t see it in practice every single day. That’s the challenge. But we didn’t wait till this week to start working on it. But it is challenging. 

“It’s like facing the wishbone, if you don’t see it all year long. And there’s some differences. There’s ways to get them out of the stack and into an odd front. So a lot of times, people will do that to try to calm it down a little bit, but they do a nice job, and they’ve been running this system for a while and have had success with it. So they’ve stayed with it and promoted from within. But it definitely causes some challenges. It caused us some challenges the last time we played.”

Is Penn State happy with its in-helmet between the coordinators and defense?

“It’s a challenge. And every year, this is a little bit of a challenge. And then you also have different styles, right? Different coaches have different styles in the way they do it. And then sometimes you got technology issues, and you could signal, but we know what that leads to, right? So, yeah, there’s been some challenges with it. I think the other thing is, we spent a ton of time working on it on offense, we got to make sure we’re working on it enough on defense, because at home, that’s where we’re really going to deal with it. So no, there have been times where it’s been challenging. Sometimes we’ve had some technology issues. Sometimes, we’re just not clear enough, and sometimes the tempo, the offense, could make some things challenging too.”

How important is it then to have another game at home in that regard?

“It’s important. We got to do it in practice, but it’s important to get these things cleaned up in games as well. It’s one of the notes that I’ve written down, and I brought it up on Sunday as well. We need to work more on defense in practice with crowd noise. And the hard part is, you know, now that limits coaching, right? Because, we got some, obviously, tweaks to our system now with Jim and we’re trying to coach. Well, it’s hard to coach when we’re blowing their eardrums out. So it’s a fine line between those two things.”

On Lions freshman receiver Koby Howard

“Yeah, he loves ball. He’s got a toughness to him that I think is really important at the wide receiver position. He’s got really confident, strong hands, and he’s preparing and going about it the right way with the right energy. So, you know, I think we have a lot of confidence when we need to put him in the game, and when he gets his opportunity, I think he’s going to be ready. So he’s approaching it the right way. He’s controlling the things he can control. And a big part of it is attitude, because a lot of these guys, if they’re not getting the time and reps that they feel like they’ve earned, and you could make that argument, then they sometimes, they get frustrated, they get in the tank, and then they got bad body language and everything else. Then they get the game, and that’s what shows up, right? So he’s handling it well right now, and, you know, at some point this year we’re going to need him, and I think he’ll be ready.

Is Penn State redshirt freshman Tyseer Denmark in a similar spot?

“The difference is, if Kobe plays under the current rules, you know, we have to be careful, because he’ll burn his [red]shirt. And he does some really good things on offense, [but] he’s not factoring in a whole lot yet on special teams. So we just want to make sure, once we decide to play them, that, like, right now, he wants to play, play,  but at the end of the year, a lot of times, these guys get to the end of the year and are like, if I knew I was only going to play this much, I wouldn’t have. So, we take it a little bit more conservatively in that way. And he has to watch himself, because where Tyserr’s in year two and a little bit more mature, Kobe’s a little frustrated by [not playing], right, as a younger player, which is understandable. But there’s some other areas, like we talked about the special teams, where he can help himself.”

On new offensive lineman TJ Shanahan 

“Yeah, he’s a guy that’s got a really bright future. Football is very, very important to him, and he works at it. It’s interesting. And, you know, not talking about any specific programs, but it’s just interesting. I got a lot of respect for our strength program and how we go about our business. Sometimes we get guys from other schools, and and they’re lacking in some areas, and we can make a difference in a short period of time, and that’s talking about all the transfers, not just TJ.

“Some guys come in from programs and they’re really good shape, and other guys, it seems like they haven’t done a whole lot, you know, based on the previous school. And he’s a guy that has worked his tail off and is in a really good position, and football is really important to him. He’s well liked by the guys, and he’s got a nasty disposition on the field, so you can’t have enough of guys like him. So I think he’s got a really bright future. He’ll continue to play for us this year.”

On the Penn State cornerbacks not being tested much through two games

“Yeah, I don’t really get concerned about things that I have no control over. I can’t control that. They are not throwing the ball at our corners very often and testing those guys. You know, we do it in practice as much as we possibly can. Good on good as well as our D-squad stuff. I know they would like some more opportunities. Think they’ve been really good in the run game. I know Jim has been very complimentary of Terry [Smith] and that unit and how physical they are. But they got to be careful, because what happens is sometimes then you start trying to make plays, and then that’s when you give up big plays. So they just got to be patient. And you know, the time will come and they’ll be able to maximize it.”

On Villanova having tackling issues in Week 1

“I’m not really going to necessarily say anything in this press conference that’s going to disrespect our opponent. We got a ton of respect for Villanova, how they play, how competitive they’ve been year in and year out. They got a veteran coaching staff that has done a great job. They came in last time and gave us fits. But yeah, for us, we’re always trying to put defenders in conflict, trying to put defenders in one-on-one situations where they have to tackle our ball carriers. But we got a ton of respect for Villanova, their defense.”