Blue White Illustrated

aybe it's because of his college career as a quarterback at East Stroudsburg. An excellent dual- threat QB, James Franklin racked up awards and accolades by zipping around the field using his legs in addition to his arm. In one game, he set a school record for a quarterback with 150 rushing yards. In the write-up on Franklin's career that appears on the East Stroudsburg athletics website, this quote from of- fensive coordinator Mike Terwilliger pretty much sums up Franklin's game: "The first thing I said to him when he was throwing the football [was that] the nose of the football was up in the air. He had the craziest release I ever saw." So when Franklin, along with offen- sive coordinator John Donovan and quarterbacks coach Ricky Rahne, ar- rived at Penn State last year and teamed up with a rising star named Christian Hackenberg, the immediate reaction could be summed up in one word: mis- match. How could Hackenberg, who had completed 59 percent of his passes for nearly 3,000 yards as a freshman, possi- bly fit into a system that, in its public unveiling in last year's Blue-White Game, ap- peared to de-emphasize his role as a drop-back passer by periodically deploying the wildcat formation? Franklin promised that the wildcat would be a part of the team's offense in the fall, and he proved to be as good as his word, endorsing that particular approach every time the subject came up. "I know people seem to hate the wildcat," he said following Penn State's victory over Akron in week two, "but I love it." With Hackenberg clearly more com- fortable picking apart defenses with clinical precision than taking off and running, a problematic narrative took hold – wrong place, wrong time, wrong system – as the Lions struggled to develop any offensive consistency. Then, when Trace McSorley beat out Michael O'Connor for the backup quarterback spot behind Hackenberg, the message seemed clear: Penn State would begin building its offense around dual-threat quarterbacks as soon as Hackenberg left for the NFL. But perception and reality don't match up. If you listen to Franklin and Hackenberg, and also examine the evi- dence from Franklin's career, it's clear that what the Nittany Lions are going to want going forward are quarterbacks who can throw and make great deci- sions, but who can also keep opponents honest with their legs. "You start looking at the guys in the NFL now who are having success who are young. They're guys like Andrew Luck, who are pro-style quarterbacks," Hackenberg said. "They have all the tools, but they're also guys who, when stuff breaks down, can climb if they need to, get eight yards. If they need to, they can get five yards and get down. But also, they are explosive enough to be able to carry that into the 20-yard range COMRADES IN ARMS The conventional wisdom says James Franklin favors running QBs. Don't believe it M J U D G M E N T C A L L BRONX CHEER Hackenberg talks to re- porters after throwing for 371 yards against Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl. Photo by Steve Manuel

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