Penn State has high expectations and James Franklin is embracing that

For the 11th time, Penn State coach James Franklin stepped to the podium at the Big Ten’s annual football media days. Rounding out the six coaches who spoke on Wednesday, Franklin enters the 2024 season as the second longest-tenured coach in the conference, only behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, who’s entering his 26th season. During his opening statement, he praised Ferentz and said, “I wanted to congratulate him on all his success.”

Times are changing within the conference, and Franklin recognizes the challenges that lie ahead. This season, the Nittany Lions will face three of the four new Big Ten schools in USC, UCLA, and Washington. And despite a 10-3 season that included a New Year’s bowl game appearance, Franklin and the Nittany Lions are in a rare spot. Penn State has three new coordinators: Andy Kotelnicki on offense, former Indiana coach Tom Allen on defense, and Justin Lustig on special teams. And expectations remain as high as ever for a team returning 15 all-conference performers from 2023.

In five of his 10 seasons with Penn State, Franklin has eclipsed 10 wins. But he, like the Nittany Lions fan base, has loftier goals.

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“There’s guys that embrace that we’re in a place like Penn State, where we’ve been able to consistently, for the most part, win 10 to 11 games. But that’s not the expectation of Penn State. They chose Penn State, just like I chose Penn State, to compete for championships,” Franklin said. “We are one of the few programs in the country [where] you can win 10 or 11 games, and people are unhappy, so we embrace that.

“That’s inside the Lasch [football] building, and that’s outside of the Lasch Building. I think our players understand that when we recruit them, our staff understands that when we hire them. And as the head coach, I embrace all those things as well. I think week in and week out, the Big Ten is arguably the best conference in all of college football.”

Among the returners to the team is quarterback Drew Allar, whom Franklin praised: “Having a returning quarterback at that position [who] did some phenomenal things — I think he was second in touchdown-to-interception ratio, think he broke the national record in completions without an interception — and we got to build on that.”

The receivers look much improved with the addition of former Ohio State receiver Julian Fleming, “who’s developing into a leader for us,” Franklin said. But ultimately, Penn State will be judged on how they play in their biggest games. Last season, the Nittany Lions managed just 27 points combined against Michigan and Ohio State. Franklin hasn’t beaten Michigan since 2020, and Ohio State since 2016, the year Penn State won the Big Ten title.

“We got to play our best when our best is needed most, in the biggest games, at the biggest moments,” Franklin added. “When you look at us, specifically last year, we did some phenomenal things. But that’s the step we need to take. … We’re going to have to play well early on, build confidence and carry that confidence throughout the season.”

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Penn State will head out to California to face USC in October, and Franklin says he and his staff have reached out to NFL teams to figure out how to best travel from the East Coast to the West Coast. Their season begins with a massive road test in Morgantown to face a much improved West Virginia team.

One day after earning Big Ten’s preseason honors, Franklin spoke about defensive star Abdul Carter during his podium appearance. When asked about Carter’s transition from linebacker to defensive end, Franklin called the rising junior “one of the more explosive physical athletes in all of college football.” But he also alluded to Carter not completely abandoning the linebacker position.

“We think he’s got a chance to make a significant impact week to week, we’ll decide where he’s going to have the most impact for us, whether it’s on the line of scrimmage, at defensive end or in the linebacker position,” Franklin said of Carter, a La Salle College High alum and North Philly native. “This spring, he stayed mainly at defensive end to get comfortable with that, and then after that, we had a really good conversation — he’s open to doing both. That’ll also put us in a position where people can’t game plan and know exactly where he’s going to be on the defense.”

Carter was a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2023 after compiling 48 tackles, 5½ tackles for loss, 4½ sacks, an interception, and a forced fumble.