Penn State head coach James Franklin Wednesday press conference
Penn State football head coach James Franklin spoke with the media today after practice about his team’s progress this week and the upcoming game against Northwestern on Saturday.
To start the press conference, Franklin was asked about a player that has been mysteriously unavailable for the start of the season. While he didn’t exactly answer the question, the tone around the availability of Penn State defensive tackle Coziah Izzard changed this week when Franklin discussed Izzard’s status for the upcoming game.
Franklin mum on Penn State defensive tackle Coziah Izzard
While news closer to home dominates the conversation, Franklin does discuss the topic of Hurricane Ian. Many of the Penn State football players are from Florida or have family in the area, which he acknowledged they discussed this week.
After touching on his thoughts about starting defensive end Adisa Isaac, Franklin addresses what he’s looking for on kickoff coverage and how it’s hard to scout Northwestern tackle Peter Skoronski because of a schematic choice by the Wildcat’s offensive coordinator.
Once again, Franklin did not give any solid information about Penn State left guard Hunter Nourzad, he did address the topic when asked. Finally, Franklin and the media discussed game preparation, both during game weeks and the bye. How much can you advance scout a team before you’ve reached a point of diminishing returns? And how many games into the season before upcoming opponents have a firm grasp of what you are offensively and defensively for a given season?
Franklin addressed both questions in-depth.
Press conference rundown
00:00 Press conference start
00:13 Coziah Izzard update
00:18 Players from Florida reacting to hurricane
01:15 Adisa Isaac
01:56 What does consistency on kickoff look like?
03:00 What makes Peter Skoronski so good?
03:48 What has been the key to Penn State turning out elite punters?
04:58 How do you plan to play running backs during the game?
05:40 Hunter Nourzad update
06:10 When have you maxed out the preparation you can do for upcoming opponents?
08:48 When do teams have enough current film to start game planning better?
10:20 How has Penn State QB Sean Clifford’s health been this season?
