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Penn State head coach James Franklin weekly press conference: West Virginia

Headshot 5x7 reduced qualityby: Thomas Frank Carr08/29/23ThomasFrankCarr
James Franklin Penn State On3
Penn State head coach James Franklin declined to name a starter but gave strong hints about who his quarterback would be on Saturday against West Virginia. (Photo: On3)

Penn State football kicked off the first week of the 2023 season with head coach James Franklin’s weekly press conference. The Nittany Lions leader sat down with the media in the Beaver Stadium press room for roughly 40 minutes on Tuesday afternoon and discussed his team’s matchup with the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Nittany Lions take the field at 7:30 on Sept. 2 in a primetime affair. Franklin’s team is the host and higher-ranked team, coming in at 7th in the country to start the year in the AP Poll.

Listen to Franklin’s full comments below, and if you haven’t yet, subscribe to the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel so you can hear Franklin’s comments moments after his press conference ends. 

Penn State head coach James Franklin previews West Virginia

As he typically does, Franklin outlines the players on offense and defense for the opponent that he feels will challenge his team. He cites defensive end Sean Martin and safety Aubrey Burks for the defense and the offensive line on the other side of the ball. 

“Obviously, this is a regional game, which makes sense. I know college football has gotten away from regional games and regional conferences.” 

“They’ve got some offensive linemen that we recruited heavily and didn’t get.” 

“I would anticipate in this game that they’ll go for it on fourth down and to be a story in the game.”

Once again, Franklin fielded questions about Penn State’s starting quarterback position. So, did he reveal who won the starting competition between Drew Allar and Beau Pribula? He didn’t, but he did discuss how Allar performed during training camp. 

“If there were interception decisions that would have been an interception, but he got lucky, we track those as well. He’s been really good,” Franklin said. 

The other cool thing is that, having all this historical data, you can go back and compare historically. You can compare to Trace McSorley and Sean Clifford. There’s a lot of value in that. I thought he had a good camp. All his numbers were really good.” 

Join Blue White Illustrated for a full season of coverage! You can now get 50% off the year-long price for premium content. Also, the BWI Live YouTube show is expanding its coverage for the upcoming season. Join Aeneas Hawkins and me for the Penn State Football Tailgate Show 2023 live outside Beaver Stadium before each home game. The 90-minute show airs before every Penn State game on the Blue White Illustrated YouTube channel and on 99.5 The Bus locally in State College. 

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