all it a freshman-year seminar.
Each week, when time allows,
James Franklin calls a meeting of
his 33 freshmen. It isn't meant to
be an X's and O's football discus-
sion like the ones they get when
their position coaches call order.
No, more o=en than not, it's simply
time to shoot the breeze.
Sometimes they'll discuss the playbook
or study a little bit of 9lm, but a conver-
sation about Spanish class or the cute
coed sitting next to them is just as likely
as a conversation about a zone blocking
scheme.
Lay it all out there, Franklin tells the
youngsters, let's chat.
"How are you doing academically? How
are you doing socially? Is there anything
we need to know, anything we can help
you with in the transition?" he asks.
"Who's homesick? Whatever it might be.
Is there anything we can help you with?"
While it takes a few of the youngsters a
couple minutes to warm up and begin
talking, Franklin said that there's "usually
pretty good dialogue both ways. I ask
them what they're learning from a football
perspective, what they're learning from
an academic perspective, talk about a lot
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LEARNING CURVE
James Franklin brings a hands-on approach
to PSU's freshman-development eorts
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