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C O A C H S P E A K • E X C E R P T S F R O M J A M E S F R A N K L I N ' S W E E K L Y P R E S S E R With no classes this week, how does the players' routine change? You've in- vited players to your home. How many do you expect this year? The schedule changes not as much as you would think from a football perspec- tive because we still have all of our NCAA hourly responsibilities. That doesn't make complete sense because really, the hours are based on, in my opinion, a schedule that has to balance school. Right now we don't have that. What's interesting is, in the past, Mon- day was a big community service day. We're not allowed to do that. We had to do the community service today, which the guys want to do. It would have made more sense to do it on Monday, their day off, than a practice day like today. For the most part, it allows them the rest and recovery. They get to sleep in, catch up on maybe some schoolwork or some responsibilities that they have to do there. I know some community service. Sean Spencer and the D-line, they gave out 65 turkeys today that Sean raised through his clothing apparel line, Dog Chaos, whatever he's got going on. That's really cool. At Thanksgiving, a lot of guys are going to their position coaches. Then I have a number of young staff members who don't have families who are coming to my house. I've got probably about five or six players who are coming to my house. I probably have another four or five players whose families were going to come up, they were going to go to a restaurant aBer practice, come to our team meal. I just said, doesn't make sense to go to a restaurant, come to my house. I think I have four players and their families com- ing, which I think is awesome. I want them to understand what Thanksgivings are like at the Franklins. I don't want them to come dressed up and formal. It's sleep, it's eat, it's watch football, fall asleep on the couch, play ping-pong, board games, pool, eat, sleep, rotate the rest of the day. I'm hoping that they'll come and slob- ber on my couch and eat turkey and just chill, because to me it's just about family and about spending quality time with each other and taking a time to be thank- ful for all the blessings that we do have, so... that's the plan. How would you characterize Miles Sanders' development this year, and what has been the biggest change from last year to this year? Miles is a guy our staff is really excited about. I think everybody else has had a chance to see some flashes from him, good and bad. Miles has been behind one of the better running backs, if not the best running back, in college football. That's a really good challenge. When you're a good player, behind another good player, that's difficult. I also make the argument that Miles has been in a lab. Miles has been in a lab with one of the best professors in the country to learn from. I think that's invaluable. I'll never forget when I was in Green Bay, we draBed Aaron Rodgers that year. Aaron was able to sit behind Brett Favre and learn. I think there's a lot of value in that. Sometimes it's hard. But Miles has han- dled it great. I think one of Miles' challenges in the past was ball security at this level. He's really improved in that area. He's gained the coaches' trust, his teammates' trust. He always could run, but he's gotten big- ger, stronger, more explosive. He's learned from Saquon. He's learned from Coach [Charles] Huff. More than that, he's really just a great kid. He's doing really good in school. I'm proud of him. I know Saquon, you see how he is on the sideline when he gets in the game and makes plays. Saquon came up to me [and said] Miles is going to be really good. I agree. I think I saw Tommy Stevens even put something out here recently about how excited he is about Miles. I think the biggest thing is ball security. He always could run. I think he's gotten better with his ball security. I think he's gotten better with his pass protection, which is common for young players. Very, very excited about Miles and his future. Trace has been your quarterback for almost two full seasons now. In what areas have you seen him grow the most on and off the field? I think the thing with Trace is, you know what you're going to get, every game, every practice, every meeting. There's value in that. It's no different than with people you work with or from your boss or whatever. Having a guy who is just so consistent [is important]. Academically, almost every semester he's been a strong student. You really know what you're get- ting. There's a lot of maturity there. Foot- ball is very important to him. I think he's become a little bit better in every area. Trace probably doesn't have one thing that blows you away. It's not like he's 6-4. It's not like he runs 4.3. Not like he can throw it 80 yards, any of those types of things. He does everything well. He's worked really hard to refine and get better at his craB. His arm has gotten stronger. He's a better decision-maker. He's running better. He's just gradually chipping away at every single area. He's gaining a lot of confidence. The players have a lot of confidence in him. So do the coaches. It's not like I can pinpoint one thing. He didn't really have any glar- ing weaknesses on the front end. That's kind of who he is. He's a winner. He's ath- letic. He's smart. He's savvy. He's tough. He throws it probably a lot better than people give him credit for. He's just grad- ually gotten better in each one of those areas because he comes to work every sin- gle day with a great attitude and prepares. I've just been really pleased with him. He's probably a little bit more outspoken than he has been in the past, but he's still really not that guy. The most important thing is that his teammates and the coaches all react well to him. There's a lot of confidence when he's in the huddle. A lot of the things that I just said about Miles, I could say the same things about Tommy. Tommy has grown so much. We're excited about him. Good and bad, he's been able to sit behind a really good player who's been having a lot of success and learn. I think it's like anything in life. It's how you perceive the situation, how you embrace it. We've got two really good veteran leaders with two really talented players behind them. That's exciting. Is quarterback the toughest position for players to be patient with their roles? You mentioned that Tommy N O V E M B E R 2 2 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 12

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