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5 takeaways from James Franklin’s weekly news conference

By Audrey Snyder/Pittsburgh Post-Gazete 8 years ago

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — James Franklin always has and seemingly always will keep injuries close to the vest. It’s why the team’s depth chart from here on out will just be the same as the one the team used for the previous game and it’s why he doesn’t get into discussing injuries. 

Freshman running back Saquon Barkley missed the last two games with a right ankle injury and will continue to be a limited participant in practice this week, Franklin said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. At practice last Wednesday Franklin said at the time Barkley wasn’t 100 percent and whether or not the elusive back takes the field Saturday night in Columbus for a game against the top-ranked Buckeyes will come down to Penn State’s medical staff. 

“The days of the coach making decisions on who plays or not are long gone,” Franklin said. “They’ve been gone for a long time.

“He’ll practice this week limited and we’ll see what happens. Obviously freshmen it’s different. … You come back as a junior or senior from injury you’ve played a lot of football in your career and that’s different compared to a freshman who hasn’t played a whole lot of football anyway and now he’s out for a couple weeks.”

Redshirt freshmen Nick Scott and Mark Allen carried the load the last two weeks with both Barkley and redshirt junior Akeel Lynch out of the lineup due to injury. Allen fumbled last week and was immediately grabbed on the sideline by position coach Charles Huff who gave the 5-foot-6 back a bit of a shove. Franklin said he discussed the incident with Huff and that putting his hands on a player won’t happen again. 

“That’s been addressed very clearly with our staff. Individually me and Charles had a conversation about that, had a conversation with the overall staff,” Franklin said. “There’s obviously a lot of details and specifics that go into it that we don’t need to get into right now, but I know who Charles Huff is as a man, I know who Charles Huff is as a coach and those things have been addressed. There’s not a place for that.”

Is Joey Julius still the kicker?

The sophomore who walked on to the team last summer missed two extra points against Indiana and booted a kick out of bounds. Fellow walk-on Tyler Davis came in to replace Julius. 

Who takes the field Saturday? 

“Joey’s our guy,” Franklin said. “It’ll be a competition like it is every week but we’re not in the business of if a guy has a rough day or makes a mistake of changing our plan or our mind. Joey’s our guy and he’s done a great job in the offseason, he’s working really, really hard, he’s grown so much in the last year. … We’ll make a decision later in the week, but again, if we were playing today Joey would be our guy.”

Franklin has said every week that at both kicker and punter the staff continues monitoring all of the players in order to put the best one out there.

Punter Chris Gulla wasn’t dressed last Saturday as Daniel Pasquariello returned to punting duties. No update was given on who handles punting duties this week. 

Will Adam Breneman see the field this season? 

Adam Breneman’s name appeared on a slide in the background of a video the team posted on their website last Friday where he was named one of two scout team players of the week. The former Rivals four-star tight end missed last season with a knee injury and has yet to play this season. 

On Saturday Breneman appeared on the sideline for the first time in pads and while he didn’t play, Franklin said they’ll continue to ease him back in with the scout team in hopes that he can see the field at some point this year. 

“Love how you guys found in the video found the slide,” Franklin said. “You guys are relentless. I love it. … At this point he’s still going to do that, that’s kind of where he’s at in his progression of getting back on the field at some point. Again, we’re going to take those things slowly and those things will be medical staff decisions.” 

Slowing down Braxton Miller 

It’s no secret that Ohio State has plenty of weapons on both sides of the ball and quarterback turned receiver Braxton Miller is certainly one of them. 

Franklin said Penn State’s scout team realistically can only mimmic so much and while he wouldn’t say who will rep on the scout team as Miller (or Cardale Jones or J.T. Barrett for that matter), he said it’s hard to ignore Miller’s skill set. 

“Braxton, we watch him on film and he’s playing wide receiver now like he’s played wide receiver his entire life,” Franklin said. “It’s impressive. I think Braxton is that type of athlete. He can throw it, he can run it, with the ball in his hands he’s special. It just gives you another option that you have to deal with.”

How did center Wendy Laurent grade out?

Wendy Laurent filled in for starter Angelo Mangiro who missed the game due to injury and while it’s unknown if Mangiro will go this week or not, Franklin said Laurent continues to impress. 

By doing so he also gives Penn State the option of moving Mangiro out to guard if need be, or they could move Laurent to guard if necessary, Franklin said.  

“Angelo is our guy,” Franklin said. “He has a calming effect on our offensive line and our offense, how he calls and how he leads and how he identifies the fronts and makes adjustments. … Wendy’s done a great job.”

Franklin said he’d like to see Laurent be more verbal in terms of making calls. In what’s expected to be a hostile environment in Columbus Saturday night communication will be critical. 

“Whenever you can put a guy in the game and he grades out a winner it helps your opportunity to win in a real positive way,” Franklin said. “That’s a good thing.”