If you were to make a list of things you should never ask coach, questions regarding a game down the road and if a coach will approach the next game differently than all the others are two that make said list.
And James Franklin managed to avoid all of those kinds of questions as he stood and later sat in front of microphones for nearly an endless amount of time on Friday. Maybe he didn’t want to answer questions about Christian Hackenberg’s future in the NFL, but those are at least questions that you have to ask. The ongoing dance between a reporter asking a question he or she already knows the answer to but has to ask anyway. Due diligence can be annoying for both parties.
But what James Franklin did say poses an interesting question as to how Penn State will approach the first half of the schedule. A six game stand that never sees the Nittany Lions leave the state. Perhaps some challenges lie in the season opener “on the road” at Temple and a night game against Rutgers, but other than that, Penn State should be favored fairly handily before the tables turn during a trip to Columbus.
The question is not how Penn State will approach all of these games, but rather how it will approach getting players other than starters on to the field. Specifically, players who have redshirted in prior seasons.
“Again, you look, we had 65 or just under 65 scholarship players last year,” Franklin said on Friday. “We played at the end of the year against, I think, Ohio State with 45 scholarship players and Michigan State, I think, was 41 scholarship players available at game time.”
“So to have those guys in practice and be able to get the reps, I think that’s what people sometimes overlook. They think about the game, and the game is important. But it’s also preparing your guys and getting enough reps in practice so it has a trickle-down effect to everybody.”
The point is this. Penn State has had a roster full of players since the sanctions began, but experience isn’t truly gained during a practice that involves third string players taking on third string players. Penn State’s depth issues haven’t been numbers, they have been talent in numbers. Having players that can compete for backup positions or even starting roles. Those kinds of players, that kind of talent, is essential to building a successful program. When the starters than the practice squad, they really mean it. That’s how you get better.
And Franklin has been preaching the same.
“If your second team offensive line cannot block your second team defensive line, you can’t develop the backup quarterback. You can’t develop the wide receivers. You can’t develop the corners.”
“When you have to reduce practice reps to keep people healthy, it just has an effect. You’re talking about that effect over three years. So being able to go back to more of a traditional model and the way we’re going to practice — and I’m not talking about the banging. It’s not necessarily about the banging. It’s just about the reps.”
“We talk about mental reps and the importance of mental reps and how much you can get out of it, but there’s nothing like experience. So standing and watching is one thing. Being out on the field and actually doing it in practice and in games and building up that muscle memory as well as the fundamentals and techniques and footwork necessary to be successful is critical.”
So the question is to ask the unaskable question. Does Penn State play the season’s opening six games with the hope of winning early and getting reps late? Does James Franklin approach those games differently because he knows that the Nittany Lions should win. To be certain Penn State’s starters are not a group without their own issues, but that doesn’t mean they can’t take care of business before the clock strikes zero.
Regardless how it all unfolds, every game in the opening six that Penn State can finish early -if that’s in the cards- the better. Not because they have won, but because the roster of the future can hit the field.
Having talent is one thing. Getting that talent some experience is something else all together. A win in its own right.
