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P O S T S E A S O N P R E V I E W >> P E N N S T A T E V S . K E N T U C K Y that decision a=er the last [regular-sea- son] game and between then and the dra=, 15 other juniors come out early. Why would you make that decision? You want to have as much information as you possibly can [get] to make a great decision. The later you can do that, the better." JOHNSON POISED TO BOUNCE BACK One of the players who had seemed a few months ago to be a prime candidate for an early exit was receiver Juwan Johnson. But due in large part to injuries, Johnson had an up-and-down regular season in which his receiving totals were only about half of what he amassed as a sophomore. He was back on the 9eld against Mary- land last month, making two catches for 46 yards, and Franklin said he expects the redshirt junior to "have a big bowl, a great o;-season and a really bright fu- ture." "When you're young, you think life is fair – if I invest this, I should get an im- mediate return on my investment," Franklin said. "But it doesn't work like that, whether it's the big man upstairs or it's just the game of football. If you love the game and respect the game and in- vest in the game, it will pay back. The game respects people who view it the right way and treat it as such. I believe in that. I believe it in the game of football and I believe it in life. It's going to hap- pen. When it happens, how it happens, I'm not sure. But I think Juwan is a great example of that. I'm excited about how he's going to play in this game. Juwan, like a lot of guys, had some things that were messing with him physically dur- ing the year that I don't necessarily talk about. So those things factor into it as well. But he's healthy now, and our quarterbacks are excited to throw the ball to him." PSU AIMS TO KEEP STAFF INTACT Franklin is hoping for less sta; upheaval than Penn State endured last year when three assistant coaches le=, including two coordinators. Usually, those moves involve promotions, such as Joe Moor- head's decision to accept Mississippi State's head coaching post. But some- times they don't, and those are the losses that sting. "We can't lose guys for lateral moves," Franklin said. "That cannot happen. For the program that we have and the type of program that we want to be, that's criti- cal. Like the players we've talked about, it's :uid. I get phone calls every day. In the car recruiting, and coaching our players, checking on academics, I'm constantly getting calls about our cur- rent sta;, coaches who have worked for me in the past. It's something we need to be aware of, and me and Sandy [Barbour] are always having conversations and di- alog about it." ■ It was easy to point out the changes on the o;ensive side of the ball during Ricky Rahne's 9rst season as Penn State's coordinator. In 2017, the Nittany Lions gained about 63 percent of their total yards through the air. But during the recently concluded regular season, the split was close to 50-50, as Penn State passed for 2,590 yards while rush- ing for 2,502. Rahne said the Lions' o;ensive style may very well change again. "Based on who we have on o;ense and who we're playing with, the system will adapt," he said. "If you go back and you look, it's sometimes hard to tell, but there's a major di;erence from '16 to '17, and then there's a di;erence from '17 to '18." Rahne said he isn't concerned with implementing his own style or putting his 9ngerprints on the Nittany Lions' of- fense. He just wants to take what the de- fense gives. "It's really going to depend on what defenses are giving us, how they're play- ing and also what our personnel is," Rahne said. "I'm going to continue to hopefully put us in as good a position as possible to be successful, but that's not necessarily going to be me putting my imprint on it as opposed to what I think is best to win games." The 9nal challenge of Rahne's 9rst year as o;ensive coordinator will be one of the most di

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