Blue White Illustrated

A MATTER OF TIME With so much production returning, experience is one of PSU's biggest assets ifty minutes into a March press conference previewing spring practice, James Franklin was well aware that his sports information direc- tor had given him the hook. He had begun with a lengthy opening statement, after which came 17 questions concerning many of the more pressing matters that his team is facing this year, from the composition of its defensive front seven to the development of the backup quarterbacks to the growth of the program as a whole. And yet, even after offering 17 answers, Franklin wasn't quite finished. As the presser was drawing to a close, he tackled one last question: How might Penn State be able to sustain the remarkable success it had achieved during its 2016 Big Ten championship drive and subsequent Rose Bowl run? Franklin repeated many of the points he had made throughout the presser. He said he would be using this year's spring drills as an opportunity to focus on fun- damentals, culture and trust. He and his staff would be returning to the playbook, and they would be doing so with a keen eye for detail, emphasizing signals and tempo and making sure that players un- derstood how calls are made. "We understand that 2016 was nice, and that it was a great experience," Franklin said. "But 2017 is a completely different animal, and we have to build it in a very, very similar way to what we built last year, while still using the les- sons and the experience that we learned. That's the challenge." Throughout the day, Franklin's primary message was simple: Last season's tri- umphs do not entitle the program to suc- cess in the future. But that wasn't his only message, and before everyone in the Beaver Stadium media room started packing up their laptops and cameras, he JUDGMENT CALL F WHISTLE STOP Franklin's team is set to return 99.2 percent of last season's rushing pro- duction in 2017. Photo by Steve Manuel

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