Virginia’s tragedy hits coach

Franklin shaken by football deaths

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Before James Franklin could delve into talking about Penn State’s game against Rutgers, he first touched on a national story.

Franklin shared his thoughts about the University of Virginia’s football program in light of the deaths of three members of the Cavaliers’ team in receiver Lavel Davis Jr., receiver Devin Chandler and defensive end/linebacker D’Sean Perry.

“It’s hard to even fathom,” Franklin said. “If there’s anything we can do as a Penn State community, obviously, we would do that. It’s hard to even put into words.”

From there, Franklin provided an update about a star cornerback for the Nittany Lions, as well as an array of additional topics during his roughly 43-minute long Tuesday news conference. Here’s a quick recap of the latest from Penn State’s head coach:

Absent appendix

North Allegheny High School graduate and cornerback Joey Porter Jr. did not play against Maryland, which Franklin said after the game was due to an injury unrelated to football. Franklin typically does not get into the specifics of players’ injuries unless they are of the season-ending variety, but he went against the grain to provide the media further information about Porter’s absence.

“Joey had appendicitis,” Franklin said.

Franklin said he felt the need to discuss Porter’s absence due to what he called some “misreporting” on the cornerback’s injury. A potential first-rounder in the upcoming 2023 NFL draft, Porter could be back this season, according to Franklin.

Frequent fourths

This season, Penn State has successfully converted 17 fourth downs, which is the eighth-most in FBS.

Franklin was asked if it has become less taboo for coaches to go for it on fourth down.

“It definitely has because everybody is using some form of analytics,” Franklin said. “When you look at the analytics, it’s pretty strong.”

Franklin said that he’s not a coach who lives and dies by the analytics. However, he has a “core group of guys” that he meets with every Monday to discuss different decisions such as going for it on fourth down and going for a two-point conversion, and how those scenarios may vary according to the opponent.

Regardless, Penn State is going for it on fourth down at a high clip this year, at times with superb results, such as running back Nicholas Singleton’s two touchdowns against Maryland on Saturday.

Support for Sean

Sixth-year quarterback Sean Clifford has dealt with obstacles throughout his career, including being benched in 2020 for current Kentucky quarterback Will Levis; getting injured against Iowa in 2021, and frequently hearing that freshman Drew Allar should be starting. Despite it all, Clifford’s 139-yard passing performance against the Terrapins Saturday moved him past Trace McSorley as Penn State’s all-time passing leader.

Clifford also surpassed 10,000 passing yards in his Penn State career with at least two games to go and a probable bowl game. Franklin was asked if he thinks Clifford’s career will be looked upon more favorably after it ends.

“I’d love for that kid, not to get ahead of ourselves, but in our last game, senior day, I hope he gets the type of appreciation and recognition that he deserves,” Franklin said.