Franklin: Speed is ‘ eye- popping’
Coach also suggests a realignment dialogue
CHICAGO — Penn State has introduced a new feature— speed — to its 2019 team and head coach James Franklin calls it “as fast of a team as I’ve been around.”
Speaking at his general session with reporters Friday at Big Ten Football Media Days, Franklin said he didn’t have the specific 40- yard times for the players but noted that “we had a bunch of eye- popping numbers in terms of guys that have run extremely fast, 4.3 or better, more so than any place I’ve been.”
That includes a 4.33- second clocking by 258- pound redshirt freshman defensive end Jayson Oweh, who disclosed his time on Twitter. Other reported times were 4.35 seconds by redshirt sophomore running back Journey Brown, a former Pennsylvania high school 100- meter champion, and 4.32 seconds by cornerback Donovan Johnson, another redshirt sophomore.
“I don’t believe 4.3 guys really exist, but we’ve got a lot of them that a lot of clocks had them running really fast times,” Franklin said. “We’re fast, and it’s not just at the typical positions like running back where you recruit a guy like Journey Brown, who broke the all- time 100meter record in the state of Pennsylvania. It’s at positions like D- end, that guys are typically fast but not the numbers that we’re talking about.
“A lot of our guys are guys that are new to football, like Jayson Oweh’s an example of that. His numbers are freakish in a lot of ways but he’s also a pretty inexperienced football player.”
Franklin on realignment
Franklin also had thoughts about why no Big Ten team has made the College Football Playoff in the past few years.
Mainly, he wants to “at least have a discussion” about what realigning the two Big Ten divisions might do.
“I think the East is very strong and has been very strong for a number years. I think you can have the argument that over history, there’s ebb and flow,” he said, “But if you look at the East, it’s pretty strong, probably similar in a lot of ways to what the SEC West is like.”
The Big Ten East includes Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Maryland, Rutgers and Indiana.
The SEC West division contains Alabama, Auburn and LSU.
Franklin seemed to feel that the Big Ten East teams beating each other up every year doesn’t do wonders for individual teams’ playoff resumes.
“I’m not saying we necessarily have to make any changes, but we can have a discussion,” he said. “I think, obviously, the nine conference games is something that needs to be discussed.”
The Big Ten’s playoff drought dates to 2016, when Ohio State was routed by Clemson, 31- 0, in the Fiesta Bowl.
It was only five years ago that Ohio State won the CFP national championship, but that probably doesn’t make Franklin and his fellow Big Ten coaches feel better.
“I just think all these things need to be discussed after the last two years of what’s happened because I think a lot of the people in this room ... feel like we have an opportunity to compete with anyone, anywhere, any time,” Franklin said. “We want the opportunity to do that.”
He did clarify that his priority is ensuring Penn State is ready for this season.
“I think what we have to do is control the things we can control, and the things we know are constants,” Franklin said.
Beaver Stadium update
Vice president for intercollegiate athletics Sandy Barbour said that consideration for the design of the first phase of renovation at Beaver Stadium will start soon but she couldn’t say what the initial step could be, or give a timetable.
“It depends on what it is we decide is the first phase,” Barbour said. “We haven’t really been at that stage, so yeah, it would be working with some our consultants on the kinds of answers.”
Penn State is in the initial five- year segment of facilities improvement. One of the facilities is Lasch Football Building, where Barbour said board approval has been received “to hire an architect for close to $ 70 million worth of next- step renovations.”
Barbour mentioned improvements to multiple facilities and said more than $ 46 million has been raised this year for athletics. Penn State will consider naming rights for some but not all of them.
“I think some is more appropriate than others,” she said. “I think that some corporate sponsors or naming of any sort are more appropriate than others.”
She also said some parking lots at Beaver Stadium have received more gravel for traction, and that the lot behind the north end zone has been fitted with “a really hard plastic mesh product.”
“That’s going to enable us to have lots that can take a lot more water, a lot more rain, and still be usable,” she said.
As for the new traffic patterns that will instituted for home games this season, Barbour said the university soon will announce a “# runyourroute” strategy where technology will be able to find the appropriate route to the assigned lot.