Penn State head coach James Franklin winter press conference
Penn State head coach James Franklin spoke with reporters for the first in 2024 as part of the team’s switch to the new calendar year. Check out his complete comments embedded in this article or on the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel. BWI provides a live re-broadcast of Franklin’s comments inside the Beaver Stadium press room immediately following his concluding remarks.
Franklin spoke on various topics, including the state of college football and his team’s integration of new Penn State coordinators Justin Lustig, Tom Allen, and Andy Kotelnicki.
Penn State head coach James Franklin press conference
Franklin discussed his plan this offseason to make the transition to three new coordinators as seamless as possible. He stressed that he didn’t want his program to start over.
“The first thing is, we’re working on this every morning, is coming up with Penn State offense, defense, and special teams; all three coordinators were hired under the idea we need to do the best thing for Penn State moving forward,” Franklin said.
“What are the things terminology-wise that can stay the same? What needs to change? And what are the non-negotiables for the coordinators? It’s been really good discussions going on, and I think the players would like for us to be further along in terms of installs but we want to make sure we’re doing it right.”
Franklin also discussed the team’s portal approach and why they targeted specific players, including Julian Fleming and Nolan Rucci.
“Nolan, again, very similar storylines [with Fleming]. The difference there is Nolan has got multiple years left. And, he played in the bowl game and played very well, and that was a confidence boost for him. We knew what he was capable of but there was not a lot of evidence of it at Wisconsin.”
Penn State part of new-look Big Ten
The Nittany Lions will have a difficult road to the new 12-team college football playoff this year. Penn State is tied for third by Fan Duel, with a projected win total of 9.5 wins in 2024. New conference opponent, Oregon, leap-frogged the Lions and Michigan, who also has a win total set at 9.5.
The media also met the team’s second-year players for the first time on Tuesday. Check out Blue White Illustrated this week to hear our reporters about what Tony Rojas, Jven Williams, Jameial Lyons, and many other players had to say.
