Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/847744
ends, one receiver, and pound the hell out of people. Then the next play, line up with four wide receivers. That's what we did at Maryland, that's what we did at Kansas State, that's what we did at Vanderbilt, but we were so far behind on the O-line when I got here that you weren't able to do that. So OK, what do I do? Do I sit here and say, OK, this is what I believe in and we're going to do this come hell or high water? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, so let's play to our strengths. So when I made the change and had the opportunity to bring Joe [Moor- head] in, that was a big part of it – putting us in a position to take advan- tage of it. Michigan State is still doing it that way, Michigan is doing it that way, Stanford is doing it that way. That model works, too, but you had better have the personnel to back it up. We walked into a little bit different of a scenario than those people. BWI Do you feel like you're at a point now where you could do both? FRANKLIN Yeah. I'm different where I believe that you can have Ken Niumat- alolo at Navy running the option and be successful. I believe you can run West Coast pro-style offense and be successful. I believe you can run the spread. And all those things are really good, but once again, you had better have the personnel to match it. If you're at Navy and you take over that job and you want to run the option and you don't have a quarterback in your system who can run the option, it's hard to do that. So that's us evolving and looking at our roster and looking at our personnel. But yeah, I think we're in a position now, especially on the O-line, where I think we could line up and pound some people a little bit. But I love what we're doing. Me and Joe had a lot of conversations. The passing game, we're pretty much aligned with in terms of his back- ground and my background. No one is running a pure system anyway, so even in my past when we were a West Coast, pro-style offense, we were still run- ning aspects of the spread. You look at what we did at Vanderbilt and we were running aspects of those different things. At Maryland, we ran some op- tion, and at Kansas State, too. We've got a very clear philosophy of what we want to do right now and how we want to do it, and we have the personnel to back it up. Trace McSorley helps and Saquon Barkley helps and Mike Gesicki helps and Andrew Nelson, I can go on and on. Those guys help. BWI You omitted a wideout there. I guess DaeSean Hamilton has the re- sume. FRANKLIN I was going to say, it's kind of hard to argue with DaeSean. He led the Big Ten in receiving a few years ago. BWI But you lost an NFL second- rounder, and that's significant. FRANKLIN Yeah. I would also make the argument that Saeed [Blacknall] has shown that he is a big-time player in this league. Ham is a big-time player in this league. I would even say [DeAn- dre] Thompkins has shown enough that he has a chance to be a big-time player in this league. Juwan [Johnson] is a rising star, and Irv [Charles] is a rising star. BWI Saquon and Trace both showered praise on the entire group of wideouts. They think the talent is tremendous there. Do you feel the same way, and is it simply a matter of people getting to see it consistently? FRANKLIN I think it's hard when you have a guy like Chris Godwin who is coming back or could have come back and people feel like you're going to have one of the better wide receiver [groups]. Just imagine, right now we'd have arguably one of the better wide receivers in the country, one of the better tight ends in the country, better running backs in the country, better quarterbacks in the country. And I think as a unit, we're still there, but you just don't have that one guy that everybody is focused on right now. I think that's going to happen this sea- son. Definitely Saeed. And I think you have a number of guys. You've got guys who can run. SPRING GAME SCHEDULED The date has been set for next year's Blue-White Game. The Nittany Lions' annual spring intrasquad game will take place on April 21 at Beaver Stadium, with kicko9 tenta- tively set for early to mid-a:ernoon. More details about the game and related events will be announced a:er the 2017 regular season. The Nittany Lions concluded their most recent spring practice on April 22, with an estimated 71,000 fans attending the Blue-White Game, the nation's fourth-largest spring football crowd this year. The game has drawn more than 50,000 fans in nine of the past 11 years, including 8ve crowds above 70,000. PSU ALUMNI ON HALL BALLOT A pair of standouts who were instrumental in helping Penn State post undefeated and championship seasons are among the candidates under consideration for the National Football Foundation's College Hall of Fame. A total of 75 players and six coaches from FBS schools are on the 2018 ballot. First-team All-Americans Kerry Collins and Steve Wisniewski have been selected for the national ballot for the Hall of Fame's Class of 2018. They have an opportunity to join 18 former Nittany Lion players and 8ve Penn State coaches who have been inducted into the hall. Also on the ballot is former Nittany Lion student-athlete Glenn Killinger, who is among the candidates for the divisional coach Class of 2018. Killinger was in- ducted into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1966. Linebacker Shane Conlan was the most recent Penn State player inductee, entering the hall in 2014, while running back Curt Warner was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2010. The announcement of the 2018 class will be made on Jan. 8 in Atlanta. The city is serving as the host for the CFP national championship, which will be played later that day at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Some of the inductees will be on-site during the announcement to represent the class. The Jan. 8 an- F O O T B A L L N O T E B O O K SEE FRANKLIN PAGE 91