James Franklin talks standout Penn State players, linebackers, & more (press conference)

guys how we doing questions James we saw khil uh back in action at practice State time in about a month I think are you optimistic about his Avail availability for Saturday and and what can he do for this team moving forward yes we are but you know to your point there's still the issue he's missed a ton of time both mentally and physically um so we got to we got to knock the rust off and and we'll see if he's ready then as you guys have seen he can be a weapon for us um but if he's not physically ready or mentally ready um then we feel like we got some guys you know like you've seen with Luke uh and others uh Joey and some other guys that we think you know can can fill that role um ideally we'd love to have them back um you know so specifically with Luke we can save some of those games but we're going to do what we got to do you know this week uh to play and play well what did you see from Andrew and his first started T that um rap yeah um yeah rat played really well as you guys know we've had a ton of confidence in him uh for a while football's very important to him uh he works at it he's committed uh he's athletic he's a great route Runner um he wants to be a physical tight end which is something that's very important to us here as you guys know I keep saying Tyler Warren's the most complete tight end in the country I think rap has a chance to be one of those guys as well um so it's it's a really good group I think Tai Warren is kind of you know in some ways is leaving a legacy in how to practice and how to work and I think rap is is kind of learned a ton from him already so I you know I thought for first game I thought he did some good things we talked a lot about Elliot Washington he had the interception on Saturday but his classmate at the position guy who also was out there at Gunner uh Zion how have you seen him kind of progress in in year two here yeah Terry's done a done a phenomenal job that that we have depth at the quarterback position like like I don't you know remember us having before and I I don't think very few programs in the country have it um and that's why not only are they playing on defense uh and you'll see guys rotate through as starters you'll see guys rotate through in terms of reps but then also special teams not only did Elliot you know uh have that big time interception but he also started on all four core special teams unit so he is making a huge impact in a lot of different ways um and I think Zion another guy like that you know those those guys are fast they're athletic they got great football IQ you remember last year you know he made the unbelievable play on the fake punt um you know just just guys that are football players and got great football IQ you can use them in a lot a lot of different places Z's another guy like that coach I know uh you're West vir great win obviously there's things you probably want to grou what's on your short list of things you'd like to see this week cleaned up I think the biggest thing um is penalties and when I talk about penalties as you guys have heard me say before it's not necessarily the the penalties that happen during the play It's the pre- snap penalties um and the post Snap penalties th those are the ones that you got to clean up cuz they're focus in discipline penalties um but that's probably the biggest thing um from a from a players perspective and then a combination of players and coaches is the timeouts you know we've done a really good job of not burning timeouts and having all three time out or at least two timeouts available at the end of the half and the end of the game and I think we burned three timeouts one in really all three phases offense defense and special teams and and we don't we don't want to be doing that James what are some of the factors that come into play if you're attempting deciding whether to attempt to flip a kid who's committed to another school that you're not just wasting your resources that you know it's worth your while well I I think a couple things I think number one um is this a player that we felt like we were legitimately in you know so some of these guys they put out a top five and you're not in it that's a top five they're just putting out uh for the media there's three schools that the that the young man's been really focused on and if it if it came down uh to us and another school um and the and we reach out or the kid tells us hey I want you to keep recruiting me then then we'll keep recruiting them because I think your point is a good one is we only have so many resources ources and you got to make sure that the time you're spending is time well spent and um so to me it's were we legitimately in it is the kid receptive is the kid open um and do you feel like you know you got a let legitimate chance to get get them before Signing Day you know we're not a negative recruiting team uh we're not a team that's going to go after other people's recruits just to go after other people's recruits um it's it's about a guy we've had ton of time invested in and uh they still want to be recruited and we feel like we got a shot James how did Jaylen Kimber go about things this fall to put himself in that position to be one of those starters in game one yeah you know really well I mean I think you know when you talk about a veteran you know you're talking about a guy who's played a bunch of football in in in some serious conferences um and done it at a pretty high level enough that that we were very interested in when he entered the portal um and then he came here and he's he's done the same thing I think he's really grown in all the stuff kind of off the field from a developmental standpoint especially in the weight room it's gotten bigger stronger and faster and more explosive um but he's but he's a veteran guy and I think we've talked about before about the importance of having some older players that have that have played played whether it's here at Penn State or other places um you there's value in that and then you know being able to learn some things from our staff and and Terry specifically um just very steady workmanlike approach um and again a guy that the game's not too big for him sometimes with the young players you're very impressed with them but then they get in the game and their eyes get big and the moment's big for him he's played a ton of football so um you know we we've been we've been pretty impressed with him since he arrived on campus James we saw dejon Lane play a little bit at West Virginia um how do you think he reacted to that experience and what about him as flash to you over the past couple months yeah good I I think the challenge is if I remember correctly he was not a mid-semester guy you know I think if he could have been here in the spring he'd be so much further ahead right now but when you're talking about us you know creating that depth that we talking about and having at least a two and a half deep you know we we got to get somebody to step up into that fifth safety role especially with us playing so much three safeties on the field um so you know his development as well as other guys is important um you know we need his reps to increase this week and we need his reps to increase next week um or excuse me the next game so that that his role could continue to grow on special teams and on defense and that he earns the trust of his teammates and and the coaches but you know again since he just arrived this summer you know he's doing doing some pretty good things big strong fast physical guy um that's working very very hard hard at it right now but he's a guys you know we've greenlighted and we're trying to FastTrack his development kind of speed up his maturation process coach what's impressed you about the linebackers so far and is there anything you hope to see on Saturday from the group yeah that's that's another position in terms of you know we got we have to create some depth um whether it's with some position changes like you guys have seen um or maybe playing some guys like we've done you know we just got done talking about with uh with DayDay and we've done with coup there's going to be some guys that we're going to have to use some games on um to develop that depth but overall I think our starting unit we feel really good about um and even some of the backups that have played a decent amount of football for us but but we have some depth issues there so you know the development of guys like darari and speca and and those guys is going to be really important for us moving forward James AJ Harris credited Jaylen Reed with kind of calming him down a little bit before the game because of his nerves but what what have you seen from Jaylen as developing as a leader and and that side of his game now as a senior yeah he's just he's kind of the you know the the Wy vet you know he's been around for a while now played a ton of football for us played really well on Saturday as you guys saw but I also think he's one of these guys that you know not only did he play well on Saturday but he practices well and he works hard he is one of the smartest football players I've ever been around if you watch him he's out out there and he is kind of orchestrating everything um really a vocal player on the field the game of football makes sense to him and really always has um so he's just a guy that the that the guys on the team respect his physical ability they respect his his mental ability his football IQ and his approach to the game um you know I I think I think we're in the argument for you know you know the one of the best safety rooms in the country when you take um KJ and jayen Reed that's a really nice combination of pieces to work with uh we need this to continue to grow thank you coach thanks guys