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C OA C H S P E A K| EXCERPTS fROM JaMES fRaNKLIN'S WEEKLY PRESSER What do you plan to do at middle linebacker now that Nyeem is out for the season and will Brandon Bell and Grant Haley be able to play Saturday? Brandon and Grant are questionable for Saturday. I can't answer that at this point. I think [Gary] Wooten is an op- tion for us at middle linebacker, I think Jason Cabinda is an option at middle linebacker and I think Jake Cooper is an option for us at middle linebacker. We're going to spend this week trying to figure that out. That's based on what we get from the injury reports, and that's also based on what guys do at practice and how they take over that leadership role. Those things will be really impor- tant for us, but, yeah, we're going to have to look at some moving parts and getting guys ready to take over that re- sponsibility, not just from a physical standpoint but also from a leadership and mental standpoint. As you look at them this week, who is a guy you think is maybe close to being ready to play at le9 tackle or the guard spot other than the guys that you started against Temple Yeah, I don't know if you're necessar- ily going to see a bunch of new starters. I think you're going to possibly see some guys move around, things like that. Wendy [Laurent], he's a guy who can figure in for us as well. Chance Sor- rell is a guy who can possibly figure in for us. I think you're going to see some mov- ing parts, but, again, we had a walk- through on Sunday, and we've got to go out and practice on Tuesday through Friday and determine some of those things. Obviously we spent a lot of time in the off-season trying to figure out who our best five were going to be. We had some question marks. Again, we felt like we would play better than we did on Saturday, but we're going to have to fig- ure that out throughout this week. You mentioned communication at the top of the press conference. Early on last season, you said you thought maybe that was one of the issues for your offensive line, guys getting antsy about making calls as things were snowballing. Did you see that come up at all on Saturday? Were the problems more mental than physi- cal? I think it was probably a little bit of both. We had some communication is- sues from the sideline with signaling, plays coming in, that happened a few times. We had some situations where I think, again, in practice, guys had been taking control and were able to help some inexperienced players by telling them what to do. I think we got into the game and things started flying around and that communication stopped. So I think that's one of the things that we've got to continue to work on and continue to stress because you guys have heard me say this before: A lot of times on of- fense and defense, you can be wrong, as long as everybody is wrong together and we're all on the same page. That didn't happen at times on Saturday. Where do you think the offensive coaching staff can be better on a game day, particularly this week against Buffalo? We're evaluating everything, had some hard discussions this weekend with all of us, the entire staff. I think there are some things we can do a better job of in terms of managing the game, continuing to run the ball. Obviously the more success you have running the ball, it makes it easier to continue doing that, but I think we can run the ball more, move the pocket more. There are things that I think would be more help- ful for us, for a lot of different reasons. And I think we have to be able to take more shots. When they're going to load the box and play cover one and cover zero and play press man and outnumber you in the box, you have to be willing to take shots down the field. The issue with taking shots is that obviously you hold onto the ball a little bit longer, and if you don't complete them now you're in second-and-10, second-and-long, which creates third-and-long situa- tions, which was one of our big chal- lenges on Saturday. We were in way too many third-and-longs. The issue, though, is that you have to threaten them deep to loosen them up so you have to be willing to take those shots. There are areas where I think we could be better, and we have discussed those things as well. Another example where I've got to do a better job is that aBer they did go on that long drive we S E P T E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 13 PSUtixman@gmail.com www.PSUtixman.com Get your PSU Football Tickets at go t ti cke t s? k c i t t t e k PSUtixman@gmail.com .PSUtixman.com www www.PSUtixman.com at PSU Football T Get your k c i t t o PSUtixman@gmail.com .PSUtixman.com PSU Football T Get your s t s e k SEE FRANKLIN PAGE 14

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