James Franklin mum on Penn State DL personnel: Notebook

Penn State coach James Franklin again met with the media Wednesday his team continues its prep for Auburn this weekend. Surrounded by cameras and reporters following the Nittany Lions’ midweek practice, Franklin offered his perspective on a variety of subjects.

Most notably, that meant an update on tight end Theo Johnson. Having missed the first two games of the season due to unspecified “bumps and bruises,” the third-year was seen back at practice participating on Wednesday. 

Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean Johnson will be cleared to play against the Tigers this weekend, Franklin said.

“We’re hopeful,” Franklin said. “No final decisions have been made yet. But, we’re hopeful. He’s been doing a little bit more each day and each week. So, we’re hopeful.”

Johnson’s pending status report wasn’t the only topic tackled by Franklin Wednesday evening.

Here is a look at some of the other news, notes, and observations to emerge from the session:

James Franklin’s post-practice media notebook

1) No news is no news

No news doesn’t seem like good news as it pertains to defensive linemen Coziah Izzard and Smith Vilbert. Both players have missed the first two games of the season and, when asked by a reporter if there was any update on their availability for Saturday’s game at Auburn, Franklin was succinct.

“No,” he said. 

Both Izzard and Vilbert were expected to figure prominently in Penn State’s rotations along the defensive line. The two players were again seen at practice on Wednesday just as they’d been last week.

Vilbert wore the jersey of a scout teamer and Izzard wore his number but didn’t appear with the regular rotation at DT.

2) Running back shakeup coming?

Franklin had already responded to a question about the running backs before he was asked about Johnny Dixon.

The fourth-year corner started in place of Kalen King on Saturday against the Bobcats. As such, Franklin had the opportunity to talk about competition and the culture he’s trying to have in the program. 

But, it also provided the opportunity to lay out the truth in this, his ninth season in the program.

“Very rarely am I going to tell you what the rotation is going to be before the game. Whether I know or not, because I know Auburn is listening,” Franklin said. “So I probably won’t get into a whole lot of those details in this setting.”

Still, when it comes to the running back position, questions remain following Nick Singleton’s performance against Ohio. 

Franklin balked when asked after the game about whether or not Singleton had separated himself. He didn’t have to touch on the topic on Tuesday. But, Wednesday, when asked if there had been any change with the running back rotation, Franklin said no decisions had been made.

“We have not sat down and talked as a staff about rotations at this stage,” he said.

In the limited window for the media to check out practice on Wednesday, Singleton was third in line. Keyvone Lee and Devyn Ford were the first and second backs in line, respectively.

Fellow true freshman Kaytron Allen was not seen at practice, Franklin acknowledged that he wasn’t at today’s practice, but added that “he’ll be out there Saturday.”

3) James Franklin’s defensive nudge

Franklin has subtly, and occasionally unsubtly, been pushing for more from his defensive line this week.

Wednesday night, that took shape again as he discussed the absence of sacks from Penn State’s defensive front. Only Dixon and Jonathan Sutherland have notched sacks against the quarterback and, even tackles for a loss have been comparatively down. Penn State has, through two games, 8.0 TFLs against 11.0 of opponents. 

Noting his satisfaction with the play of Penn State’s secondary to this point in the year, Franklin did acknowledge the need for more “chaos plays” defensively, be it interceptions over passes broken up or tackles for loss or sacks. 

“We want more production, we want more tackles for loss, we want more sacks,” he said. “And we want more interceptions. All those disruptive type plays that are drive killers and momentum changers. So we need more of them. There’s no doubt about it. And that’s for our entire defense.”

4) Looking ahead on the OL

Asked to assess his satisfaction with the rotation of guards on the left side, Landon Tengwall earning two starts but repping out at a 3:2 rate with Hunter Nourzad, Franklin foretold of a future in which Penn State continues to rely on its depth up front.

“I think both of them deserve to play,” Franklin said. “I think you’re going to see some weeks where we have Hunter, take some reps at both guards. You’re going to see some weeks where Hunter takes reps at one guard and then the center position to get Juice a blow. 

“But, Hunter deserves to play. [Bryce] Effner deserves to play. Those two guys we kind of view as starters. And, each week, depending on how they prepare, what the matchups are like, will kind of determine how much they play, whether they start, whether they rotate, whatever that may be.”

5) Tried and true

Penn State has passed a road test to open the season. The Nittany Lions have also worked over a MAC opponent in Ohio on Saturday. 

What does that mean for a heavily anticipated trip to Auburn this weekend?

It might mean something, it might mean nothing, Franklin said. But, assuredly, more will be known about this Penn State team by Saturday night.

“I think Purdue, opening up with a Big Ten game, prepares us for this game maybe in a different way than if we hadn’t played them,” Franklin said. “We’ll know a lot more about our team come Saturday night than we do at this stage. On the road, this atmosphere, this type of opponent, the athleticism that they have; we’ll have a much better idea of who we are.”