James Franklin "Our young guys aren't physicals enough yet" | Post-practice press conference
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Penn State head coach James Franklin spoke with the media Tuesday evening after the team's fourth spring practice. Check out his entire conversation with the group in the video below. He touches on the young players standing out in spring practice, how the transfers have performed on the field, and what he's seen from his receivers. We'll highlight a few of his comments here.
Penn State's young players still settling in
When asked how the team has responded to an increasing intensity in practice, Franklin was pleased overall but does want more from one specific group. The young players on his roster didn't play to their abilities in the team's first scrimmage, says the head coach,
"I think the young guys aren't as physical right now as I think they need to be because they're thinking. But overall, I've liked how we've practiced.
But that's not the biggest issue; the team is still dealing with an injury bug that hasn't allowed key players to participate.
"As you guys know, I kind of talked about this in the press conference a little bit, but we got some guys that are limited. I wish we had everybody out here healthy flying around but overall, it's been good. We scrimmaged a little bit this past Saturday. It'll be interesting to see the step we take from the first live day to the second live day and see if we can play faster and more aggressive," Franklin said.
During his opening press conference of the spring season, Franklin outlined that defensive tackle Coziah Izzard and offensive linemen Landon Tengwall, Nick Dawkins, and Hunter Nourzad would all be limited. Despite that rash of injuries on the offensive line, the group is still healthier than last spring. However, the team had to modify practice and the spring game to deal with the lack of healthy bodies.
This year, it's better, but still not perfect,
"I think it helps. The issue is the challenge is you get the numbers at the line and then you're limited with numbers at other places. We haven't really had a year- I don't know if anybody does - where you got the right amount of numbers in every single position. But for that group and for the D-line, I think it's been a real positive, there's really good competition.
And I think you guys see just even physically looking at them, it's just a lot of guys that look the part in terms of size, athleticism to be able to compete. So it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Then obviously having the three young guys here, early help and we got one more still coming."
00:00 Press conference start
00:06 How did you see your team respond to the pads coming on?
00:50 How does the abundance of offensive linemen help compared to a year ago?
01:47 How does offensive installation go with two young quarterbacks?
02:50 How do you feel the transfers Malik McClain and Storm Duck are performing so far?
03:55 What’s the next step for KeAndre Lambert-Smith?
04:55 Are there any mid-year enrollees that are standing out right now?
05:55 Who has filled the vocal leader role that Sean Clifford filled?
06:40 What has stood out about McClain since you started spring practice?
07:06 How have you seen Deion Barnes adjust to the full-time d-line coach?
08:43 Are you satisfied with the number of analysts you have?
10:27 What have you seen Khalil Dinkins, Jerry Cross and Joey Schlaffer after the first week?
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James Franklin "Our young guys aren't physicals enough yet" | Post-practice press conference