Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/787374
F O O T B A L L Franklin: Nittany Lions need to stay hungry Penn State was the Big Ten champion in 2016. The Nittany Lions have the trophy to prove it, and James Franklin made sure that everyone remembered his team's spectacular comeback victory over Wis- consin, schlepping that gleaming silver football around with him from town to town for his visits with high school play- ers and their families in the final weeks of the recruiting cycle. As he explained half-jokingly while seated at the Beaver Stadium media room podium for his signing day news conference, "This is the first time since the game that I have not had the ball in my possession. I've taken it into every high school. I sleep with it. My wife rolled over the other night and almost broke her elbow on it." But as memorable and gratifying as the Lions' joyride through the last two months of the season may have been, winning an unexpected championship may turn out to be the easiest part of the program's return to national promi- nence. With winter workouts well under way and spring practice set to begin in March, Penn State is faced with an en- tirely different kind of challenge this year. It is no longer a giant slayer. It's back to being the giant that lots of other people want to slay. And that, as Franklin acknowl- edged recently, is going to require players to stay motivated throughout a long off- season. "I think handling success with young people in general is a challenge," he said. "Are we going to be as driven? Are we going to be as motivated as we were this year? That's going to be the secret. Are we going to work as hard for our chem- istry? Are we going to be able to work as hard for our culture? Are we going to be able to work as hard collectively and individually to get where we want to be?" The pollsters won't weigh in for months, but it's a safe bet that Penn State will be in the top 10 when the preseason rankings are released. The Sporting NEWS NOTES FOCUS GROUP Franklin said one of the Lions' off- season priorities will be to make sure it's handling success the right way. Photo by Steve Manuel | &