When does Penn State football start preseason camp?

Indianapolis, Ind. — Penn State coach James Franklin stood in front of assembled media members at a podium here inside of Lucas Oil Stadium and said the same thing each of his Big Ten brethren said before and after him at the conference’s media days: He’s happy with where things are and excited for camp.

Franklin would later joke during a roundtable discussion that, of course, he would say that. No one in the history of college football has come to one of these events and said, “ya know, we’re not going to be very good this year.”

With that said, the leader of the Lions was asked why he feels good about his Penn State team. A critical season is ahead as the program looks to right the ship following a combined 11-11 record the last two years. He pointed to a few reasons to back up his otherwise cliche claim. One focused on testing numbers and the team being bigger, faster, and stronger according to the data. Another had to do with the roster.

“We had depth issues last year where, when we were healthy, we could play with anybody in the country. We showed that,” Franklin said. “But, when we had some injuries at some key positions, we weren’t able to sustain it the way we need to sustain it.

“And a game that is physical, like the game of football, that’s going to happen. And, you have to prepare for it. You have to be ready for it. And I just think we have more depth more positions than we’ve had in the last few years.”

Big Ten Media Days are over. So, when does camp begin?

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Penn State has start date picked for fall camp

The end of July means football season is about to be here. This is the final week for recruiting visitors. Penn State will cap off a busy summer with the Lasch Bash on Saturday. Then, everyone reports for camp on Sunday ahead of Monday’s start. It will lead the Lions down a road that takes them to a Thur., Sept. 1 opener at Purdue.

“We’re excited about where we’re at,” Franklin said. “We’ve had a great, great summer. We’ve had a great off-season. Really looking forward to coming into camp. We’re going to blink and we’re going to be getting on a plane to travel to Purdue.

“We open the season on the road at Purdue Thursday night, national television. I think the game is a blackout. Got a tremendous respect for Coach [Jeff] Brohm. Got tremendous respect for Purdue University and what they’ve been able to do in night games and specifically blackout games. So that will be a tremendous challenge to open the season.”