Blue White Illustrated

C O A C H S P E A K • R E C E N T C O M M E N T S F R O M J A M E S F R A N K L I N ON INJURIESWe do have more guys missing practice than I would like in general, and that's not just this spring, just in general, but overall I've been pleased. Again, we're talking about a guy with a hamstring out, those types of things. It's not anything that I see as a problem, just as coaches you always want to get as many reps and as many opportunities as you can with the guys. ON YOUNG PLAYERSSpring is a great time to kind of figure out who the other guys are. We need to find out who [Mike] Miranda is, we need to find out who Lamont Wade is, we need to find out who Will Fries is. We've had an op- portunity to see them but not really take in 45 reps during practice. Are they going to be able to sustain it for the length of the practice? There are a number of guys like that who are getting a bunch more opportunities right now because there are guys who are estab- lished. Jason Cabinda? We pretty much know who he is. That doesn't mean that he still doesn't have areas that he needs to get better and still needs to work on, but there are other guys who we have more press- ing needs to figure out who they are. ON THE TEAM'S IMPROVEMENTThe defense, I think, is really way ahead. We did some good off-season studies, and I think we have a few nice little new wrinkles in there. Then offensively, same thing: a bunch of off-season stud- ies, a bunch of conversations with dif- ferent people, studying the things that we do. What can we do that's comple- mentary to what we're already going and then a few more wrinkles so I think its been really good. ON JAKE ZEMBIECWe've had a lot of conversations about getting him with a nutritionist and kind of looking at some things, because he's one of our hardest- working guys in the weight room but he just hasn't developed the same way as other guys have for whatever reason. We have to figure that out. We have to navigate what he needs to kind of get a little more growth in his body, because that's going to help his arm strength. Everybody focuses on just the arm but if you look at it a lot of times, it's their throwing platform. Are they getting that foot in the ground? It's almost like a pitcher on the rubber. He's driving that foot into the ground and driving off the rubber. It's the same thing with a quarterback. The more powerful you are in your lower body, the more force you'll be able to create. So that's an area that I really think he can improve. ON CREATING TURNOVERSIf we want to really improve in turnovers, which I think is an area we can really improve in, we have to invest in it. The more confident our defensive players are in catching the ball, the more willing they're going to be to go for the pick rather than the PBU. That's something I've been preaching a lot [to] Grant [Haley] and all those guys – to increase our turnover ratio and do a better job with picks and stuff like that. I'm not talking about making unbelievable catches. Just catch the ones we're sup- posed to – it's going to really help us. Because I think you can take a good de- fense and become great, or a great de- fense and become elite by just making that change. If we did nothing different but increased our turnovers next year, it would have a dramatic impact on our defense and it would have a dramatic impact obviously on our offense as well. ON THE EARLY ENROLLEESA guy who I think has done a really nice job for only being on campus for a few months is [Mike] Miranda. He's taking a bunch of reps right now really with the ones and he's doing a great job, and I've been pleased with him. ON SPECIAL TEAMS VACANCIESRight now, [Kyle] Vasey has done a tremen- dous job for us snapping the ball. I've been very pleased with him, and then there's a battle right now between Blake Gillikin and Billy Fessler for the holding job. I think we all know that our kicker can knock the ball through the uprights but I think people under-appreciate the importance of the long snapper and the holder. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 12 Franklin greets a young fan after practice in April. The Lions' coach is hop- ing to welcome a record crowd to Beaver Stadium for the Blue-White Game this Saturday. Photo by Nate Bauer

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