James Franklin bye week press conference, Smith Vilbert Update
Penn State head coach James Franklin spoke with the media for roughly ten minutes on Tuesday evening to give an update on his team’s progress through the bye week. He touched on his team’s offensive identity through five games, the bye week plan, and the status of defensive end Smith Vilbert.
Penn State head coach James Franklin speaks with the media
The press conference started with a discussion of offensive identity. What has Mike Yurcich brought to the Nittany Lions in his first year and a half as the offensive coordinator? Franklin discusses the topic in a different light, rather than looking at it as an overarching theme that one person brings to the program.
From there, he was asked about the Penn State bye week plan. Franklin explained how he and his staff would spend the extra time with no opponent on Saturday. The time is divvied up between recruiting and game preparation for the next opponent.
After discussing how NFL Hall of Famer and former Penn State linebacker Jack Ham impacts the program, Franklin is asked about two players who caused mystery through the first month of the season. First, he discusses how defensive tackle Coziah Izzard impacted the game on Saturday in his return to the field, and then he explains the situation with defensive end Smith Vilbert.
Press conference rundown
00:00 Press conference start
00:10 Mike Yurcich’s offensive identity since joining the team
00:45 How is bye week time divvied up?
02:00 How often do you speak with former Penn State linebacker Jack Ham?
03:45 Have you focused more on ball security this week after the four fumbles last week?
04:30 What does it mean to have Coziah Izzard back?
05:10 Smith Vilbert status update
05:25 How do you prepare ahead for teams during the bye week?
06:37 Amiel Davis working out with running backs
07:00 Penn State Kicking game competition update
07:45 How do you gauge how things are going in recruiting?
09:20 Drew Shelton and Vega Ioane redshirt status
10:43 Bye week value for Drew Allar
Penn State Tuesday takes: How big of an underdog will the Lions be at Michigan? Will the Lions go unbeaten in October?
Penn State is practicing for the first time today during its bye week. The Nittany Lions will be on the field Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before the players take the weekend off while the coaches hit the road recruiting.
Head coach James Franklin’s team is into the top-10 for the first time this season after a 5-0 start. It now faces a defining stretch of games that will help us determine where it can go. It is perfect now, but it must be close to it throughout October to reach its highest goals.
The Lions most recently took out Northwestern 17-7.
“It’s good that you got to grind out a win on a bye week because you get to find some new things that you need to work on,” senior safety Ji’Ayir Brown said.
“I think we’ve got some things we need to work on, and we need to get better at, and you’d rather have that happen now going into the bye week. But I think we saw some flaws today and we get to get them corrected. Taking another step towards perfection.”
