This Could Be a Transformational Summer for Penn State Football

Nearly every time James Franklin met with the media this past spring, he pointedly referred to Penn State’s first game of the 2022 season – Sept. 1 at Purdue, in West Lafayette, Ind.

The same Purdue – with some departures, of course – that beat then-No. 3 Michigan State 40-29 in West Lafayette last season. Three weeks after it also beat then-No. 2 Iowa 24-7.

Last week was the exact midpoint between Penn State’s inglorious end to its 7-6 2021 season, a desultory 24-10 loss to Arkansas in the Outback Bowl and the aforementioned season-opener at Purdue, a prime-time contest to be televised nationally. 

There’s good reason Franklin has been so concerned about coach Jeff Brohm’s Boilermakers. They return 15 starters, including QB Aidan O’Connell, and won 5 of their last 6 games, capped by a 48-45 OT victory over Tennessee in the Music City Bowl. Penn State, meanwhile, finished with a 2-6 slide.

The Penn State-Purdue game is still 115 days away. Penn State has the summer to get ready, which includes required team workouts and individual sessions with Franklin’s assistants before training camp officially starts around Aug. 3.

Under Franklin, who is an admitted creature of routine, Penn State has traditionally started its summer camp the first Friday of August, one day and four weeks before its season-opener. Now, with the Thursday night opener, the 2022 season starts just a bit sooner than usual. Likely the same is true of summer camp.

But, a lot will happen between now and then. In some ways, it could be the busiest summer off-field for Penn State. Ever. Here’s a look at what’s on tap:

1. RENOVATED LASCH RE-LAUNCH

The latest round of renovations to and expansion of Lasch Building, home to Penn State football – with coaches and staff offices, meeting rooms, locker rooms, player amenities and an expanded weight room, etc. – is scheduled to officially open the weekend of July 29.

That is just a few days ahead of the start of camp and will put an end to the makeshift weight room that has been set up along the sidelines of Holuba Hall, and will mean the opening of such high-tech training and recruiting facilities as a Quarterback Lab.

The latest round of renovations and expansion, priced at $48.3 million, builds upon the $25 million of improvements to Penn State’s football facilities that were completed in 2019.

2. WHITEOUT ANNOUNCEMENT

Usually, Penn State has made such a call by now. From 2017-19, the Whiteout game was announced April 16-18; in 2021, Penn State waited until July 22 to announce two Whiteout games – the full Sept. 18 Whiteout vs. Auburn (a thrilling 28-20 win) and a student Whiteout vs. Michigan (a 21-17 loss after leading in the fourth quarter).

Penn State’s 2022 home slate is: Ohio, Sept. 10; Central Michigan, Sept. 24; Northwestern, Oct. 1; Minnesota (Homecoming), Oct. 22; Ohio State, Oct. 29; Maryland, Nov. 12; and Michigan State, Nov. 26.

As such, the 2022 Whiteout selection may seem like a foregone conclusion, given that the only Whiteout-worthy game before the November cold on Penn State’s 2022 home schedule is against Ohio State. All that seemingly remains to be determined is a kickoff time.

If the Penn State-Ohio State game is on Fox – very likely – it could be a noon kick, following the network’s “Big Noon Kickoff” pre-game show or possibly at 3:30 p.m. A night kick could be in conflict with Fox’s broadcast of a World Series game.

So, a daytime Whiteout?

3. BIG TEN MONEY

Speaking of Fox and Big Ten football: In the next month, the Big Ten Conference is likely to announce its new media rights deal. And it will be a ginormous one — up to $1 billion per year for the conference.

Divided 14 ways — one share per Big Ten team — that’s $71 million, per year. Add in NCAA basketball money and College Football Playoff and bowl game shares, and Penn State could start pulling in $80 to $90 million from the Big Ten. Per year. Soon. Before COVID hit, the average Big Ten share was a healthy $55 million. The new deal will be a Big Deal.

Fox, which owns 51% of the Big Ten Network, is already locked in as a partner in the Big Ten’s next media rights deal. Commissioner Kevin Warren and TV execs from Fox acting as the Big Ten’s partner (in unorthodox industry fashion) have been hearing pitches from ESPN, CBS, NBC, TNT, Apple and Amazon. Hard to believe that ESPN doesn’t get at least a slice of the next Big Ten pie. It will be a costly bite.

4. ALSTON PAYMENTS

Thanks to a June 2021 unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court in the NCAA v. Shawne Alston decision, schools can now give its athletes up to $5,800 cash for academic awards – per year. This is in addition to unlimited financial support for grad school, study abroad, computers, tutoring and other associated educational costs, above and beyond the normal scholarship and cost of attendance payments. (PSU already pays its athletes $4,788 annually in COA money.)

About two dozen college athletic departments have stated publicly that they’re paying their athletes that nearly $6,000 a year for academic success. Schools have the autonomy to determine their own definition of that success, and whether payments are made by semester or, in some cases, partial payments are held until graduation. Schools that are already making Alston payments include Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, LSU, Miami, Texas and Wisconsin. (Note: This is not NIL money.)

According to a Penn State spokesperson, its athletic department will be providing graduation and academic incentive payments. PSU ICA is currently finalizing its plans and expects to make an announcement when payment parameters – standards to be met, how much remuneration is on a semester basis vs. payable upon graduation – are finalized.

5. NIL MONEY

We are over 300 days into the new Name Image Likeness legislation that allows college athletes to make money off of endorsements, appearances, charity work and marketing opportunities work, both real and imagined.

The alleged $8 million Tennessee quarterback commit and the potential $3 million deal that could move Pitt wide receiver Jordan Addison to Southern Cal are grabbing headlines.

Penn State QB Sean Clifford has made a few of his own, by smartly and seamlessly starting his own collective. Quinn Ewers, who decided to forego his senior high school season in Texas last fall in favor of an early start at Ohio State, did so with a $1.4 million NIL deal in hand. Ewers played one game as a Buckeye and has since transferred to the University of Texas.

But what of Penn State Wonder Boys Drew Allar and Nick Singleton? You have to be figuring they are itching their NILs at this point.

Allar was the No. 2 ranked QB in the Class of 2022, according to On3, which puts his NIL value at $100,000 – tops among incoming college freshman quarterbacks. Singleton, On3’s No. 1 rated running back in the Class of 2022, has the fifth-highest NIL earning potential, according to On3, which puts Singleton’s NIL worth at $33,000.

But…

If Allar and Singleton have made big NIL deals, they have been under the radar. Both have great name recognition among Penn State fans, high national rankings and an appearance in Beaver Stadium under their belts. It would not be surprising if deals with one or the other – or both, together? – are announced in the coming months. I would imagine, in some respects, Franklin hopes so, given that further deepens the freshmen’s Penn State roots.

6. REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE

Franklin welcomes a large contingent of 18 new freshmen and transfers with the start of summer semester classes at Penn State on May 16. This is in addition to the nine freshmen and transfers who enrolled early in January.

And just in time, too. Among the May group are four offensive linemen, who will help buttress a unit that was running exceedingly low in healthy numbers during spring drills. The 18 are:

Transfers (3): DE Demeioun Robinson (Maryland), OL Hunter Nourzad (Cornell) and DB Tyrece Mills (Lackawanna).

Offense (5): O-linemen Vega Ioane, Maleek McNeil and Drew Shelton, and wide receivers Anthony Ivey and Tyler Johnson.

Defense (9): Linebackers Abdul Carter and Keon Wylie; D-linemen Kaleb Artis, Dani Dennis-Sutton and Ken Talley; and defensive backs Cristian Driver, Mehki Flowers, Cam Miller and Kevin Winston.

Punter (1): Alex Bacchetta. 

7. THE SUMMER CAMP PIPELINE

Franklin is on a roll, at least when it comes to bringing in top players and developing them individually.

Over the past three NFL Drafts, Penn State has had 19 players selected – eight in 2022, six in 2021 and five in 2020.

Penn State recruiting is also in high drive: Franklin’s 2022 class, led by Allar and Singleton, had a consensus national ranking of No. 7 and the still-in-progress Class of 2023 is ranked No. 8 nationally.

Plus, the past few years the Penn State coach has been able to recruit such top-notch transfers as Jordan Stout, Arnold Ebiketie, Derrick Tangelo, Eric Wilson and Mitchell Tinsley, as well as continuing the Lackawanna pipeline that has brought in All-American-caliber safeties Jaquan Brisker and Ji’Ayir Brown.

Part of Franklin’s secret sauce is Penn State’s massive summer camp program. It is an important recruiting opportunity for PSU, especially given Franklin’s interpersonal skills when he gets potential players – and their parents; Franklin is great with moms, especially – literally on his home turf. With COVID (mostly) behind us, the pipeline of potential future Nittany Lions back on campus and the practice field, where they can be assessed up-close and personal, is fully open.

Penn State football will have 13 different camp sessions the spring/summer of 2022, including five elite showcases, a specialists camp and two 7-on-7 tournaments. The camps begin as soon as May 21.

8. GOOD-BYE SANDY BARBOUR…

Barbour’s tenure as Penn State’s athletic director – and, since February 2019 its vice president for intercollegiate athletics – will end on June 30. A contract extension, announced on Feb. 22, 2019, was to have taken her to Aug. 31, 2023. But, in March Barbour announced she was going to retire early. Incoming president Neeli Bendapudi acted swiftly.

Barbour’s departure closely mirrors the retirement of president Eric Barron, whose last day in office was on Sunday. Bendapudi officially starts on Monday, though she has been very active in the run-up. Barron’s tenure lasted 2,918 days; Barbour’s lasted 2,873. Both were hired in the months after Franklin came to Penn State, in January 2014. He’s at 3,040 days – and counting. And now with new bosses at both president and AD.

9. …HELLO PATRICK KRAFT

Kraft was hired as Barbour’s successor on April 29 by the Penn State Board of Trustees, He takes over officially on July 1, which is the start of Penn State’s fiscal year 2022-2023.

Make no mistake: Kraft is already 100% Penn State. Boston College, his previous institution, named an interim AD on April 29. In the past four days, BC finalized the hiring of a new men’s ice hockey head coach and a home-and-home series with Ohio State football. And though Kraft may still be in Boston, he is meeting, taking calls, emailing and texting with myriad Penn Staters — past, present and maybe future.

Kraft had been the athletic director at Boston College for just 22 months, from July 1, 2020 until he was hired by Penn State. Prior to that, he was AD at Temple for five years.

Kraft inherits an athletic program that supports 31 varsity sports and 900 athletes, and has over 300 employees. Under Kraft, Temple’s annual athletic budget was in the neighborhood of $50 million, while BC’s latest budget under Kraft was about $81 million. In its last pre-COVID fiscal year, Penn State’s annual athletics budget was about $165 million.

With the new Big Ten deal, a PSU ICA annual budget of $200 million in the years ahead is a distinct possibility. That’s a far cry from Temple.

10. A NEW CONTRACT FOR CAEL?

Not quite football news, but among Kraft’s first orders of official business at Penn State will be locking down head wrestling coach Cael Sanderson to a long-term deal. Sanderson, hired in 2009, has close to one year on his remaining pact.

Penn State won its ninth national championship under Sanderson in March. He could be the best coach in all of college athletics these days; if not, surely he’s No. 2 behind Alabama football coach Nick Saban. In his introductory press conference, Kraft notably called Sanderson “The GOAT” – greatest of all time.

Here’s a contract comp for Cael:

In March, a week before NCAA nationals, longtime Iowa wrestling coach Ton Brands signed his second contract extension in as many years, tying him to Iowa until June 30, 2029. Brand has won four NCAA titles – less than half as many as Sanderson – and six Big Ten tournament titles. Brand was paid $350,000 in 2021-22.

Under his newest contract, Brand’s salary escalates as follows:

2023-24 — $625,000
2024-25 — $700,000
2025-26 — $725,000
2026-27 — $750,000
2027-28 — $775,000
2028-29 — $800,000