Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/797655
P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> ames Franklin has done a lot of traveling in his two-plus decades as a football coach, and while he's been on an onward-and-upward career trajectory, there have been a few detours along the way. In 2005, for example, he was hired to coach the Green Bay Packers' wide re- ceivers just as the storied franchise was about to hit a rough patch. Two key of- fensive linemen had left during the off- season via free agency, the backfield and wide receiver corps were ravaged by in- juries once the season began, an aging Brett Favre threw a career-worst 29 in- terceptions, and there were fears, based on what the coaches had seen in prac- tice, that the team had squandered its first-round pick the previous spring on a young quarterback who would never be able to fill Favre's shoes. Green Bay went 4-12, and Franklin was swept up in the coaching purge that fol- lowed the team's worst finish in 15 years. He went on to join the new staff at Kansas State, leaving behind that young quarterback with the first-round pedi- gree and the questionable NFL future. The player's name was Aaron Rodgers, and as it turned out, he managed to hang on for a little while with the Packers. You may have heard of him if you're a Green Bay fan... or if you've watched a televised sporting event of any kind in the past couple of years. In developing into a Super Bowl win- ner, future first-ballot Hall of Famer and ubiquitous insurance pitchman, Rodgers has provided Franklin with a perfect ex- ample of the need for long-term think- ing when it comes to achieving on-field success. "Now they're talking about [Rodgers being] maybe the greatest guy to ever play the position," Franklin said, "and I think early in the [2005] season there was a different conversation going on. "So I think that what you want to con- stantly be doing as players and as coaches and as programs is to evolve and grow and not let small setbacks and mo- ments of time affect your overall devel- opment." That's a useful perspective as Penn State gets set to open spring practice on March 22 in anticipation of the 2017 season. The Nittany Lions may have enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2016, winning nine games in a row and claiming an unexpected Big Ten cham- pionship. But the magic ran out a cou- ple of minutes too early in a Rose Bowl loss to Southern California, and one of the challenges facing Franklin and his staff is to convince everyone to move on. The good news for Penn State is that quarterback Trace McSorley ap- pears to have the sort of temperament that can handle even the most crushing foot- ball disappoint- ments. Franklin was asked recently how Mc- Sorley has responded to the season-ending loss, in which he threw three inter- ceptions, the last of which set up USC's winning field goal. He noted that the junior-to-be knows how to channel his emotions productively. McSorley, he said, "doesn't get too high and doesn't get too low. I mean, obvi- ously starting out the game with a cou- ple of interceptions – he wasn't happy with that. But there wasn't one person on the sideline or watching the game who would say that kid's not handling this adversity well. He handles things really well. He handles success well, and he handles challenges well. I think he'll do the same thing [in the future]." DON'T LOOK BACK J As it prepares for spring practice, Penn State resists the urge to dwell on its momentous 2016 season