Penn State head coach James Franklin Wednesday Press conference
Penn State head coach James Franklin spoke with the media after practice Wednesday night to update his team’s status. Check out his full comments by subscribing to the Blue White Illustrated YouTube channel.
Penn State freshman changing positions
Last week Franklin mentioned that former four-star prospect and Penn State freshman Cristian Driver was working with both the offense and the defense this season. So, where is his home moving forward? Franklin explained the situation,
“Our plan was specifically safety and we wanted to kind of train him like we did Zakee (Wheatley). Start him at corner and then transition him to safety. We feel like that work, working on an island on the perimeter as a corner really gave Zakee a lot of confidence when he went to safety. So we wanted to do the same thing. And he’s really done some good things.”
“But as the year’s gone on, you know, he feels more comfortable a wide receiver so came in and met with Taylor came in and met with Terry and then came in and met with me and you know, based on some depth and some injuries, we’ve, we’ve kind of said, Okay, towards the end of this year, we’ll split time with you. Help you get some work and get started that wiped out but we still we still need you to know what’s going on defensively. So he’s kind of splitting time during the week. But the plan is for moving forward that he’ll be a wide receiver. “
The main thread of conversation this week was about Penn State depth chart management. Most college teams at beat up and missing starters by this point in the season, so how do you manage to put your best team out on the field? Franklin discussed the layered factors that go into managing redshirts, injuries and depth chart issues that crop up when those two factors collide.
Press Conference Rundown
00:00 Press conference start
00:06 Were you surprised that Zuriah was healthy enough to play on Saturday? How has he gotten to that point?
00:42 How have you seen Penn State grow since you’ve been here?
01:37 What went into Cristian Driver playing both ways and will he continue to do that?
02:54 Nicholas Singleton needs only 199 yards to reach 1,000. How important is that?
03:41 What goes into hitting more than you miss in the transfer portal?
05:25 How would you evaluate the Penn State receivers beyond the starters?
06:10 What kind of value has Jonathan Sutherland brought to the linebackers?
07:00 What sort of value has Danny O’Brien brought to Penn State?
08:15 How much is this time of the season about managing the depth chart more than optimizing the best team?
09:49 Where is Abdul Carter in his journey, compared to what you said about Kalen King last season?
11:30 Has the calculus changed for spending redshirts from a coaching perspective?
