Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1531683
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 5 2 9 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M starting experience in 2024 — a total of eight on offense and five on defense. Ad- ditionally, the Lions will bring back two key specialists in rising senior punter Riley Thompson and redshirt sopho- more placekicker Ryan Barker. They'll have some holes to fill, of course. The defensive line is looking a little thin, as is the safety corps. Also, the receivers have been a frequent source of concern in recent years and undoubt- edly will be again, though the Lions did target that position group in the portal, welcoming seniors Kyron Hudson from USC and Devonte Ross from Troy. If the Nittany Lions need time to jell into the kind of team they want to be next season, the schedule figures to provide just that. Penn State won't face a Power Four opponent in the non- conference slate, and it won't have to leave Beaver Stadium until traveling to UCLA on Oct. 4. Yes, the Lions drew a very difficult opponent for their Big Ten opener in defending conference champ Oregon. But even so, PSU gets a bye week ahead of its matchup with the Ducks, and it gets to face them in State College, a place Oregon hasn't visited since 1964. Because of the way its season un- folded, Penn State has had less time to focus on 2025 than most of its oppo- nents. While those programs were mak- ing moves ahead of the December sign- ing period, the Lions were preparing for the Big Ten Championship Game. While others were scouring the portal, laying out the red carpet for visitors and mak- ing sure that NIL resources were being properly allocated, Penn State was fo- cused on playoff games against SMU, Boise State and Notre Dame. The Lions ended up playing 16 games, two more than in any season prior to this year. Their campaign didn't end until Jan. 9, and while that was a good problem to have, it was still a problem — one that PSU tried its best to mitigate. "I talked to a buddy at another re- ally good [program], and they said the mistake they made [during a previous playoff run] was that they put every- thing into that season, rightfully so, but then a year later, you're paying for that," Franklin said in early Janu- ary. "That's the challenge. That's where having these staff [expansions] are so important in trying to balance those two things constantly. "It can be a real super power if you can compartmentalize, but that's easier said than done. What we've been trying to do … is to sit down and meet with as many guys as we possibly can about NFL decisions, about their futures at Penn State, about NIL, about all these different things. Because the most im- portant thing that we can do is retain our current roster for the future." ■ 2025 PENN STATE SCHEDULE Date Opponent Aug. 30 NEVADA Sept. 6 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL Sept. 13 VILLANOVA Sept. 27 OREGON Oct. 4 at UCLA Oct. 11 NORTHWESTERN Oct. 18 at Iowa Nov. 1 at Ohio State Nov. 8 INDIANA Nov. 15 at Michigan State Nov. 22 NEBRASKA Nov. 29 at Rutgers Franklin won his 100th game at Penn State when the Nittany Lions defeated SMU in the opening round of the College Football Playoff. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS THE BIG PICTURE