Franklin: ‘My focus is completely on Illinois’
One day after it was reported that he had changed agents, Penn State football coach James Franklin said Tuesday that he’s committed to being with the Nittany Lions beyond this year.
“Yeah,” Franklin said. “Obviously I’ve been asked this question multiple times. My focus is completely on Illinois and this team and this program. I think I’ve shown over my eight years my commitment to this university and this community. That’s kind of my statement.”
Several times by mistake, he said Illinois, Penn State’s opponent last week, instead of Ohio State, its opponent this week, during his weekly news conference.
Franklin has naturally received criticism for the Nittany Lions’ stunning 20-18 loss to three-touchdown underdog Illinois in a record nine overtimes at Beaver Stadium, which dropped Penn State to 2-2 in the Big Ten and 5-2 overall.
His name has been mentioned with openings at USC and LSU since the Trojans fired Clay Helton last month and the Tigers announced earlier this month that Ed Orgeron would not return next season.
Several outlets reported Monday night that Franklin had changed agents, dropping longtime representative Trace Armstrong of Athletes First and hiring Jimmy Sexton of CAA.
Sexton’s clients include college football coaches Nick Saban of Alabama, Lane Kiffin of Mississippi, Kirby Smart of Georgia, Steve Sarkisian of Texas and Dan Mullen of Florida.
Armstrong negotiated Franklin’s last contract extension at Penn State, which has an escalating base salary that’s set to rise to $6.5 million in 2025.
“I’m glad you asked,” Franklin said regarding the change in agents. “I’m not going to get into the details, but what I will tell you is that this is being reported now, but this is something that happened over the summer.
“Obviously I didn’t make an announcement. I don’t know anybody that ever does when that happens. But it’s something that happened over the summer.”
Under the terms of Franklin’s current six-year contract, which were announced in February 2020, he made $5.4 million in base salary last year, followed by $5.5 million this year, $5.75 million in 2022, $6.0 million in 2023, $6.25 million in 2024 and $6.5 million in 2025.
Now in his eighth season, Franklin has a 65-30 record at Penn State, three New Year’s Six bowl appearances, three top-10 finishes in the polls and a Big Ten championship. He has a 9-7 record, however, since the start of the 2020 season.
Franklin and his staff have assembled a recruiting class of current high school seniors that’s ranked in the top five in the country.
He’s worked with president Eric Barron and athletic director Sandy Barbour during almost all of his time at Penn State. Barron is retiring next year, and Barbour’s contract expires in 2023, so there’s uncertainty about the future university leadership.
“We all came in at a challenging time in Penn State’s history,” Franklin said, “and we’ve worked very well together and have battled together. But you want to have an idea of what the future is going to hold. I’ve got tremendous faith in our board and our board leader, Matt Schuyler, that we’re going to get somebody great (as Barron’s successor).
“Eric is going to be difficult to replace. So, yeah, there are a lot of moving parts, but I’ve got tremendous faith in our leadership on the board and on campus, too.”
Franklin seemed to be preoccupied during the news conference, whether it’s because of the report about him changing agents or because of backto-back losses to Iowa and Illinois after a 5-0 start and a No. 4 ranking. Besides calling Ohio State by “Illinois” several times, he also referred to Ohio Stadium as the “Big House,” which is the nickname for Michigan Stadium.
He was asked whether it’s realistic to think the Penn State players wouldn’t be distracted by the “outside noise.”
“There are things that we can control and there are things that we can’t from the outside,” Franklin said. “This has been kind of a story that’s happened on numerous occasions, and we just try to keep it as focused as we possibly can.”
Clifford closing on 100%, coach says
Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford is expected to be 100% when the 20th-ranked Nittany Lions play at No. 5 Ohio State Saturday at 7:30 p.m., according to coach James Franklin.
Clifford lacked mobility in a shocking 20-18 loss to prohibitive underdog Illinois in a record nine overtimes last week. It was his first appearance since he left a 23-20 loss at Iowa two weeks earlier with an unspecified injury.
He completed 19-of-34 passes for 165 yards and one touchdown, but he did not scramble once and was sacked four times.
“Last week we weren’t sure,” Franklin said Tuesday about Clifford’s status and health. “We were trying to kind of see where he was going to be. Sean’s much further ahead now, to being back to 100%. So that’s a positive.
“We feel really good about that. Sean felt great physically on Sunday.”
Although Clifford claimed immediately after the loss to Illinois that he wasn’t limited, Franklin said he was instructed not to do certain things, such as run with the football.
“A big part of Sean’s game is his ability to extend plays,” Franklin said, “his ability to keep the defense and his ability to make a play or two where he picks up the first
down with his legs.
“He was obviously limited in what he could do. We tried to limit it as much as we could.”
Running woes
Penn State once again struggled to run against Illinois and netted 62 yards on 29 carries for a meager 2.1 average.
The Lions had only two rushes of 10 yards or longer against the Illini.
“We gotta be more physical up front,” Franklin said. “That’s really important. We have to get vertical push with the O-line and the tight ends . ... We have to create more push and play to the echo of the whistle, be physical and create space.
“Then our running backs have to be decisive and get downhill. That’s an area we obviously have to get better at.”
Stopping the run
Penn State plummeted from 26th to 62nd in the Football Bowl Subdivision in rushing defense after Illinois gashed the Lions for 357 yards on 67 carries.
Through six games, Penn State had allowed 111.3 rushing yards per game and no more than 182 by any opponent. Four teams have had at least 40 rushing attempts against the Lions with mixed success.
Illinois often used seven offensive linemen and two tight ends with its quarterback and running back.
“They gave us a formation that we had not seen on tape,” Franklin said. “They had a nice little wrinkle that caused us some challenges, there’s no doubt about it. We’ve had some thorough discussions since.
“At the end of the day, we held them to 10 points (in regulation). That should have been enough to win the game.”
Line replacements
Several defensive tackles saw increased playing time against Illinois because of a season-ending knee injury to PJ Mustipher two weeks earlier.
Redshirt freshman Coziah Izzard started in Mustipher’s place and made five tackles. Derrick Tangelo, who’s been the starter all season at the other tackle position, had three tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.
“Those two guys battled,” Franklin said.
Dvon Ellies and Amin Vanover also saw significant playing time in a four-man rotation. Fred Hansard and Fatoma Mulbah, another redshirt freshman, also played.
“We’re going to need that depth moving forward,” Franklin said. “We’re going to need to find it sooner rather than later.”