Extra "nuggets" from James Franklin's press conference previewing spring football

Hello, I have some quick things that didn’t make my story from coach James Franklin’s presser today. He referred to them as nuggets, which I appreciated. So here they are:

• Redshirt senior linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White will be limited in spring practice after he endured a season-ending leg injury on the season opener last season. In his absence, junior Jason Cabinda has taken up the Mike linebacker reins and doesn’t want to give that up, obviously. So it’ll be a battle once Wartman-White is back to full health. Franklin said Wartman-White also shared with the team how the injury has made him a better person because he came into last season with the wrong mentality.
• Redshirt sophomore Nick Scott came to Franklin with the idea to move from running back to defensive back. Apparently he had been recruited as a DB but wasn’t interested. But now with the rise of Saquon Barkley, he thought this would be a good move for him. Scott’s been taking a lot of initiative to learn the corner position. Franklin said Scott will continue to play his role on special teams while also fighting for this corner position. “I know I was kind of impressed in the morning work outs just watching them, the first couple days, I thought he would actually look a little bit more uncomfortable than he did,” Franklin said. “He looked pretty comfortable the first day out there, and that got us excited.”
• In other running back news, redshirt freshman Andre Robinson is working on becoming a “more complete” RB. “Rather than just depending on being bigger and faster than everybody in high school,” Franklin said. “He’s done a great job of that. His weight is down. His body fat is down. He’s a really strong guy in the weight room and on the football field. And opened a lot of eyes. Opened a lot of eyes on scout team. He may have the most natural hands out of any of the running backs we have.” Don’t say that Barkley, lmao.
• Franklin has several position battles he’s looking forward to with spring ball. Senior tackle Paris Palmer he called a different guy, physically and confidence-wise, and redshirt junior tackle Andrew Nelson had been impressive in work outs and nutrition. So both of those guys along with the younger dudes will make for an interesting O-line competition this spring. At wide receiver, it’s redshirt freshmen Irvin Charles and Juwan Johnson, who Franklin said the coaching staff went back and forth on whether to redshirt. “They are going to create competition for starting jobs and also for two-deep,” Franklin said.
• Franklin is putting a huge emphasis on special teams this spring. Scheme adjustments as well as more personnel will help, as will the good and bad experiences learned this past season. “We actually improved in the return game, but gave up way too many plays in our coverage, and I think that was a number of factors,” Franklin said. “We’re going to have a more competitive two-deep this year, which I think is going to help there probably as much as anywhere. I think our kicking, the consistency in our kicking, is going to be really important. The height of our kicks, the hang time of our kicks, the kick location, the depth.”
• And to cap it off, Franklin said managing expectations around the team is still one of his main challenges, but he, the team and the community are ready to band together and start meeting those lofty standards. “As fans and as coaches and as players, it doesn’t always happen at the rate we want it to happen,” Franklin said. “And again, at a place like Penn State with the history and the traditions and everything we’ve been through, I think that’s part of it. I think everything that we’ve been through over the last five years, everybody’s ready to get back. And I get that, and I appreciate that, and I respect that, and our players do and our coaches do, as well.”

That’s all I got for now. WiFi drama prevented me from uploading the video of his opening statement, but I will endeavor to add that later. Hit me up with questions or concerns, or to unfollow me after I tweeted the new Captain America: Civil War trailer, like one new-now-former follower already did. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯