Blue White Illustrated

C OA C H S P E A K| EXCERPTS FROM JAMES FRANKLIN'S WEEKLY PRESSER What have you seen from Austin Johnson since you arrived at Penn State and how has he impacted the defense so far? Well, it's funny, because a lot of times he may not get the stats that maybe our linebackers or our other defensive line- men are getting, but a lot of it is, he's the cause of it. They're having to dou- ble-team him, he's 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4, 315 pounds. Probably the most athletic 315-pound guy I've been around. The thing I like the most about him is every time I see him when he walks in the building or he's out at practice he's got a huge smile on his face. He's unbe- lievably appreciative about being at Penn State and having a great experi- ence. I think he's got a chance to continue to be a special player for us, and we're going to need him to be. When you can dominate the line of scrimmage on the defensive line or the offensive line, you have a chance to be successful. Him and [Anthony] Zettel make a really nice one-two punch for us inside. I was wondering if you could evalu- ate Christian Hackenberg's play in the UMass game and I was wondering what you, John Donovan and Ricky Rahne want to see from him in terms of improving over the final two thirds of the season? I think he's played extremely well. I don't really evaluate things by one game or a series or a play. It's overall. Let's be honest, for most of this season so far, he's shouldered a lot of the offense. So now that the running game is getting going, I think that's going to be really, really helpful, but like always, we're evaluating quarterbacks on third-down percentage, which we're doing a really nice job of. Red zone, getting the ball in the end zone, which we need to do a better job of. Touchdown-to-intercep- tion ratio. But most importantly, wins and losses. In most of those categories, he's doing a nice job for us. I do think that the penalties on offense have factored into that. They have been drive killers, and we've got to get those things cleaned up. One more defensive question with your linebackers: Early in the season that was a place of concern for you, at least depthwise. With the starters – the performance you've gotten from Nyeem Wartman, Brandon Bell, Mike Hull – where are you at with those guys right now? The linebackers, I think, have played probably above our expectations. I think Brent Pry, our linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator, does a great job of teaching fundamentals and understanding the concept of the scheme and how they fit. We always felt good about Mike, al- though he was making a move. I think Wartman and Bell had both shown flashes on previous film, as well as dur- ing the spring that they had the ability to do it. But to be successful, what we talk to our players all the time about is being consistent. Anybody can make a play. But can you do it over and over and over again, can you do your job consistently? I think they have done that. I do think the fact that we're able to rotate some other guys in there, whether that's at the star or whether that's the number twos, I think that's been helpful as well. I think the fact that our defensive line has been so disruptive, guys like Austin, who have had to be double-teamed, it makes it difficult to come off on those linebackers. So there are a lot of differ- ent reasons why they have been suc- cessful. But I'm really proud of them and we've got to continue to grow there. That to me is another thing that I stated in the beginning that is exciting: Those guys haven't played a whole lot of foot- ball and they're playing pretty well right now. And they still have a lot of room for growth. You've been using three main tail- backs. How difficult is it for you guys to try to figure out when to use each one, how to use each one, how to mix them up, because they all have very good qualities, they have all been contributors? We don't really kind of over-think it. Basically, each one of them is going to get a series to start the game. And then we also have plays in the gameplan that are tagged for specific players. So this GETTING DEFENSIVE Franklin has been pleased with the per- formance of his defense so far this season. He said the line- backers "have played probably above our ex- pectations." S E P T E M B E R 2 4 , 2 0 1 4 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 13 Tim Owen SEE FRANKLIN PAGE 14

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