Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1276571
BWI It feels like there is so much un- known about the receivers heading into the season. What's your perspective on that position? FRANKLIN Yeah, that's a position where, if you look at the best teams in college football, they've got at least two guys on the outside who scare people. That's what we need. We need either some of these veterans to step up and take the next step in their development or one of these young guys or a couple of these young guys to step up and do it as well. There's no doubt, that's probably the big question mark. I think we've got a chance to do better on the O-line, I think we've got a chance to be better at tight end, I think we've got a chance to be better at running back, better at quarterback. The question is, are we going to be better at wide receiver? We need to be. BWI Do you feel like you're going to be able to quickly find out who in that room is going to make plays? And if you don't get the production you need, will you be able to adapt in terms of what you want to do offensively? FRANKLIN What I would say to you is this: Fans get to see the games, the media gets to see games and not a whole lot of practice, and what's interesting is, when a guy isn't having as much pro- duction as people would hope, every- body just wants you to make a change. Well, you only make a change if you've seen somebody in practice who has war- ranted the change. If not, you want to keep investing. And you don't want to be in a situation at any position where, when guys make mistakes, you yank them and make the change. That doesn't build confidence. So that factors in there as well. You need people in practice who are legitimately competing with each other so that if someone isn't producing, you feel like you have another strong option to put in there. But again, I'd rather the conversation be about who is going to step up rather than maybe the concerns with lack of production. BWI Do you feel like you can lean on the offensive line in terms of its experience and its veteran status? FRANKLIN Very much so. Yeah, very much so. We have a bunch of veterans coming back. We've got an O-line coach who has, in some ways, rejuvenated that position. There's a lot of excitement, there's a lot of buzz about that position and that coach. And then on top of that, we've recruited well so that we have depth. We have more depth at that posi- tion than we've had in the past, and I think the drop-off from the first team to the second team isn't dramatic. So I think you'll see some of those twos get- ting some significant playing time rather than a traditional [first-team] offensive line that stays in the whole time. And I could see some guys like Juice TrY A warm & chsy ChOoSe 2 On CaMpUs HuB-RoBeSoN CeNtEr ChO wa O TrY A 2 arm & chsy oSe y 2 oSe 2 2 2 On CaMpUs HuB-RoBeSoN CeNtEr On CaMpUs HuB-RoBeSoN CeNtEr On CaMpUs HuB-RoBeSoN CeNtEr