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terback Christian Hackenberg. Franklin recalled his efforts to sign Hackenberg out of Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia. "I recruited Christian out of high school and have a very, very good relationship with him," Franklin said. "If you've got a quarterback, you've got a chance. I don't care if it's Pop Warner or little league, high school, college or the NFL. If you've got a quarterback, you've got a chance to be pretty good, and from what I've seen, we've got a chance to be pretty good." Hackenberg called Franklin a "great recruiter, a really high-intensity guy, " but said that any consideration he might have given Vanderbilt ended when he verbally committed to Penn State. "I shut it down once I committed here for the most part, he said. " Hackenberg said he "loved everything" about the ambitions that Franklin sketched out in his meeting with the team. "He was really positive about his vision, the sophomore said. " "He brought a lot of intensity. He's a straightforward guy, and I really enjoyed it and I look forward to working with him." Franklin also tried unsuccessfully to woo Adam Breneman out of Cedar Cliff High in Camp Hill, Pa. The sophomore tight end recalled him as a charismatic recruiter, but like Hackenberg, he wasn't interested in heading to Vanderbilt. While disappointed to see O'Brien depart, Breneman found himself feeling enthusiastic about the program's future as he watched Franklin's introduction on TV. "He kind of epitomizes the Penn State guy, when you watch how passionate he is with his 'dominate the state' [talk]. It shows you how excited he is to be here," Breneman said. "He's said multiple times that this is his dream job, and that's the kind of guy we want at Penn State. " The transition from O'Brien's coaching regime to Franklin's will be more challenging for some players than for others. Lucas, for example, knows only that Franklin's defense will be aggressive and "go after people," but he doesn't expect to face a steep learning curve. "Playbooks aren't really hard in my eyes, so I'm not starting all over," he said. "The confidence is still going to be there. It's not gonna go anywhere. It's gonna get better. The sooner we get working, the better. As a team, we're not going to leave one man behind. We're going to make sure everyone knows what's going on." Breneman, too, is eager to see how the team takes shape during winter workouts and spring practice. Players had left town following the end of the fall semester and were scattered when the news broke that O'Brien was leaving and that a coaching search was about to get under way. That search is now over, and everyone is back for the spring semester, meaning that the Nittany Lions can launch their new era in earnest. "It's definitely nice to be back with the guys again," Breneman said. "When everything happened, we were all away from each other and had to communicate by phone calls and texts. It's nice to be back together and working out together again. Any time you battle through adversity, it brings you closer together. This team has been through a lot of adversity, so this is just a small stepping stone to where we want to be in the future." – M.H. Steve Manuel

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