Penn State Football: James Franklin Radio Show Recap

Challenges does San Diego State bring?

“Not a big fan of San Diego State’s defense. They’ve got some cool uniforms. Their defense, typically what you do as offensive coaches or linemen is you put them into categories. With each one of those defense, there’s rules associated. These guys blitz almost 70 percent of the time and then on top of that they don’t line up. There’s plays you may see where the defense isn’t in a stance. They’re just walking around. And then the snap comes and they just come running and blitzing at you in every direction, and you’ve got to know who you’re responsible for. What happens is you crease them sometimes for big plays but then they hit you sometimes for big plays because guys come through the gaps. It’s high risk high reward.”

On Breneman

“I hope he’s ready. But I don’t know. We thought he was going to be ready multiple times and it didn’t happen. I would love him back, too. I’m looking for Mr. Miyagi or someone to come in and put his hands on him.”

On Austin Johnson leading team in tackles:

“Last year Zettel led us in tackles for loss and interceptions. We thought AJ and Nassib were going to have big years for us this year. I think Nassib and AJ and Zettel are going to continue to have strong years and I think as the year goes on you’re going to see Sickels do some good things as well.”

On SDSU running back Donnel Pumphrey:

“He’s basically their offense. You talk about a guy that last year rushed for 1,800 yards. He’s not real big. He’s quick. Has the ability to break tackles and make you miss. They’re a traditional pro offense. Their offense has evolved around Bob Toledo’s offense. They’re gonna have a fullback and try to run the ball down your throat with nakeds and play-action. Typically our defense has played pretty well against these styles.”

The receivers were reshuffled on depth chart this week. Are you worried about them being on the same page with Hackenberg?

“The guys you’re seeing moved around are all playing anyway. It’s not even really a change for us. Whether you’re starting or playing 50 plays a game or playing 35 or 40 plays, they’re the only guys Hack is throwing to in practice anyway. I know there’s some things we need to improve on, but I would say we’re playing a style we’re choosing to play on offense, because I think it’s the best thing for our team overall. We want balance more than anybody but we have to do it at the right time.”

Do recruits are understanding that we’re getting there?

“I think the results show that the recruits understand it. Right now we’ve got the fourth-ranked recruiting class in the country. I think there’s other schools in this conference that have recruited top 10 recruiting classes for the last 10 years. The people that don’t understand it are the media, some of the fans. When they think of Penn State they think 1982, 1986. Just think about it. Think about what we’ve all been through, what you guys have been through even more than me. You don’t just come out of it and jump back to 1986. Last year was our first recruiting class. Just imagine this time next year, or two or three years from now. Everybody needs to take a deep breath, have some patience and have a vision.”

Athleticism on punt coverage and return coverage.

“I’ve been really pleased. Huff went on a crusade this summer. Went to different NFL clubs, special teams clinic with college coaches in Louisiana. We brought in a retired NFL special teams coordinator. Just all these guys we recruited the last couple years, we have more depth right now and speed. And that’s showing up on our punt coverage. Kickoff, Julius is putting the Big Toe on it. He’s kicking it through the end zone or deep enough and our guys are covering it. Last year our kickoff return, people would get mad when we’d bring it out from five yards deep, now we’re eight yards deep and almost breaking it.”

What made last week your best all-around game to date?

“I just think we played really well in all three phases. Offensively, there’s been games we’ve played better — the bowl game. Defensively, there’s games we’ve been more dominant. Don’t know about special teams … we played pretty well. Our offensive line didn’t start the season the way we wanted but they’ve bounced back.”