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Five takeaways from James Franklin's weekly news conference

By Audrey Snyder/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8 years ago

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- James Franklin addressed Penn State’s rash of injuries Tuesday and said none of the players injured during last week’s game against San Diego State sustained season ending injuries. 

Franklin said starting safeties Marcus Allen and Jordan Lucas are both expected to play this week. He wouldn’t say when running backs Akeel Lynch and Saquon Barkley would return, but added that it’s “next man up” at all the positions where injuries happened Saturday. 

“Although I don't talk about injuries a whole lot, to be honest with you, this early in the week, even if I wanted to, there is not a whole lot I could tell you,” Franklin said Tuesday. “We didn't know about Jordan Lucas last week until basically Saturday morning. From everything I know this morning, none of them are season-ending injuries. Anticipate getting them all back, whether it's this week or next week, we'll see. We'll see how the week goes, how they heal.”

Franklin said the staff discussed this week whether or not it would need to burn freshman safety Ayron Monroe’s redshirt, but added that Monroe is still in the yellow category, meaning he may or may not see the field this year. 

Franklin always keeps the injuries close to the vest to read into this however you like. Left tackle Andrew Nelson has yet to play in the last 2 1/2 games because of a knee injury and remains week to week and has his knee in a bulky brace. The media will catch the last 10 minutes of practice on Wednesday as usual so we’ll see if any of the injured players, defensive end Evan Schwan included, are at practice. 

2. Will Juwan Johnson play this year?

Franklin said back in August that the freshman wide receiver was one of four players given the green light to burn his redshirt this year. The 6-foot-4 freshman has yet to play in a game and Franklin said Johnson is now back in the yellow category, so like safety Ayron Monroe, Johnson may or may not burn his redshirt this year. 

Franklin said the depth at wide receiver has made it easier to keep Johnson off the field thus far. 

“If you're going to play a guy, you'd like to play him earlier. If you're committed to playing him all year, within the first four games,” Franklin said. “But, again, based on injuries and things like that, you could be forced.”

3. Tackling isn’t up to par

James Franklin mentions this one seemingly every week and said specifically Tuesday that the safeties need to tackle batter. While he said Malik Golden and Troy Apke -- filling in for starters Jordan Lucas and Marcus Allen-- had solid performances to build off of, taking better angles and having fundamentally sound tackling will continue to be emphasized in practice this week. 

“The challenge as a safety is you have to be the last line of defense when it comes to passes,” he said. “But then you also have to defend the run. With these option teams you have to be even more disciplined than ever because they will, they will take a shot when you're overcommitted to stopping the run.”

It’s raining in State College Tuesday afternoon and given the weather forecast the rest of the week the Lions likely will spend some practice time indoors this week where they can expect to have a healthy dose of tag offs, meaning they’ll put themselves in an athletic position to make a tackle without actually leveling their teammate. 

4. Gesicki needs to continue being more physical

Franklin’s sophomore tight end continues making the transition to the position after playing wide receiver in high school. Mike Gesicki was flagged for a low block Saturday and Franklin said he “got after” Gesicki at one point during the San Diego State game, urging him to be more physical. 

Gesicki dropped two passes on one series earlier this season and continuing to turn the Lions’ gifted athlete into an all-around player takes time. Franklin said Gesicki is embracing the physicality of the position, and thus the blocking too, much better than he did last year when he played as a true freshman. 

“When I actually went back and watched the tape, overall I thought he played more physical and is embracing that role much more than he did last year,” he said.

5. Last shot for the backup QB to get game reps?

Saturday is Penn State’s last non-conference game and while getting backup quarterback Trace McSorley reps was a focal point for non-conference play the Lions usually weren’t in a position where they had a large enough lead to let McSorley see the field. The redshirt freshman did enter late in the game in mop-up duty against Rutgers but did not attempt a pass. 

“Trace and [freshman] Tommy [Stevens] are both doing extremely well in practice and in their preparation,” Franklin said. “There is a lot of confidence on our team with those guys as well. But, there is no doubt you'd like to get those guys and get them some work in not just non-conference but conference games as long as the situation of the game presents itself.

”We're not really a staff -- some staffs will say no matter what we're going to play the back-up quarterback in one series in the first half and one series in the second half. I don't necessarily believe that, because you're working to try to find a rhythm on offense.“

Bonus: Freshman defensive end Ryan Buchholz, who is slated to redshirt this year, moved inside to defensive tackle last week to help fill some holes on the roster, Franklin said. Thinking longterm, with Anthony Zettel and backup Tarow Barney gone after this season -- and the possibility that redshirt junior Austin Johnson moves on to the NFL --  the Lions have redshirt freshman Antoine White and redshirt sophomore Parker Cothren in the rotation. Freshman Kam Carter is also a defensive tackle, as is freshman Robert Windsor and both are in line to redshirt this season too.  

Audrey Snyder: asnyder@post-gazette.com and Twitter @audsnyder4.