S
hortly after his team wrapped up
spring practice with the Blue-White
Game, James Franklin revealed that
Penn State was getting set to hold a picnic
for players and their families in which the
team's Big Ten championship rings were
to be handed out. As is usually the case
with championship jewelry, the Nittany
Lions' rings do not come from the less-
is-more school of product design. They
come instead from the more-is-more
school. As in more jewels, more silver,
more lettering. There's a brilliant sap-
phire "S" logo centered atop a jewel-en-
crusted mound of gleaming, heavily
carved metal. Even in the low-res images
that have made their way online, it's hard
to look away.
And yet, if Franklin has
his way, players won't be
spending too much time in
the coming months ad-
miring those gaudy re-
minders of last year's
glory. As far as he's concerned, it's time to
move on.
"We're going to give the rings out, and
then we're never going to talk about this
Big Ten championship again," he said fol-
lowing the game. "It's over.
We enjoyed it and we appreci-
ated it. It was awesome. A lot
of hard work went into it.
We're going to give them the
rings, and once they get the
rings and walk out of the
|
O F F - S E A S O N R E P O R T
FORWARD THINKERS
James Franklin urges Nittany Lions to focus on upcoming season
IN GOOD HANDS
McSorley hands
off to Robinson
during the spring
game. Photo by
Mark Selders/
Penn State Ath-
letics
