Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/458338
C OAC H S P E A K| E X C E R P T S F RO M JA M E S F R A N K L I N ' S S I G N I N G DAY P R E S S E R You talked earlier about the job you did in Pennsylvania. How were you able to turn things around? What were some of the keys to being able to get some of these kids who maybe weren't going to Penn State the past few years? I think the first thing is to come in and make some really bold statements in your [introductory] press conference and not give yourself any other choice. But, I think more than anything, the fact that you look at our staff, I'm from Pennsylvania, Bob Shoop is from Oak- mont, Pa. Brent Pry is from Altoona, John Donovan is from New Jersey and has recruited the area for a long time. Herb Hand is from New York. Being able to bring Terry Smith back home had a huge impact in western Pa., be- cause if you study Penn State in the last five, 10 years, most of the western Pa. kids were going to West Virginia and going to Ohio State and going to Pitt. So I think that was significant as well. I think Terry was a major factor in that. I don't think it's anything different than anything else in life – you make something a priority and you're going to do well. If you make it a priority to keep the best players in this region home, you're going to do that, and I think we can do better going forward. We've got four of the top players in the country al- ready committed to us for 2016. So we're excited about it. But it never really ends. Everybody's like, like signing day is today. We had a junior day two weeks ago, we've got another one in two weeks. We're already all over 2017 play- ers. It never ends. But we're excited. We're excited about it because the plays just seem to work better with really good players. How do you go about building rela- tionships within the state? What did you guys do exactly to gain the suc- cess that you've had today? I think it started way before that. Like I said, our coaching staff is from this re- gion or they have recruited this region for a long time. I went to a teacher's col- lege, I went to East Stroudsburg, which started out as a physical education teachers college in the state of Pennsyl- vania. All my buddies are high school coaches throughout the state – guys who I went to college with, guys who I went to high school with. The same with the other coaches. So I think that helps. There's a rapport there, there's trust there. So I think that's a big part. The other thing I think you have to be careful with – and this happens all the time – is that the guy who's in another part of the country, you don't know enough. You don't know as much about him, and maybe the local prospect you know too much about him. And you have to be careful about that. We love the guys who have come to camp. We had a number of guys who came to camp and we know exactly how fast they are, we know how they compete, we know exactly how big they are. That's important. Because a lot of the stuff you see out there is not accurate. Everybody is pretty much an inch shorter than what they say, including you guys. If I asked you how tall you are, you're probably going to be an inch shorter. The weights are usually not right. And nobody is as fast as they say they are. You go on Rivals or 247 right now and there are about 60 kids who run a 4.3. You go to the NFL Combine and there are six. I don't know where they all went. But I think the fact that you can get the kids here on campus and work them out in camp and see how they compete and see how coachable they are and things like that, that's valuable information. I would rather take a guy who I know is 4.5 on our clock, which is fast, than a kid who says he's 4.3 from another part of the country. I think knowing is really, really important. That helps you in terms of eliminating mis- takes. You mentioned "fit" a couple of times already. How do you go about balancing that, particularly in this class, with talent and potential and positional needs? I don't think you necessarily have to. That's what's great about being at a place like Penn State. You can pass on some guys that you just don't feel are a great fit. They may be a great fit some- where else, but they may just not be for us. That may be feedback from our players, that may be academically, a lot of different things. So that's where I think we're fortunate. I think that we're still at a point where if the guy's a great fit and a great player, you take him no matter what your need is. But there's a F E B R U A R Y 5 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 11 Tim Owen SEE FRANKLIN PAGE 12 JUST THE FAX Franklin and linebackers coach Brent Pry confer with recruits after receiving their signed letters of intent. All of PSU's recruits followed through on their commit- ments, much to Franklin's re- lief. "I don't like drama," he said.