Grading Penn State Football coach James Franklin’s offseason
Penn State Football head coach James Franklin just wrapped one of the most historic recruiting months in program history, what will the Nittany Lions do for an encore this fall?
Penn State football will commence Fall camp this week, marking the end of a wild offseason for head coach James Franklin and the Nittany Lions.
Coming off of his first losing season as head coach at Penn State Football, this was a crucial offseason for Franklin. There were rosters moves to be made, coaching positions to fill and recruits to target.
After a 4-5 season, some may have thought Franklin would struggle with his offseason duties, but as you’ll see, that was far from the case.
Let’s see how Penn State Football head coach James Franklin fared in each aspect of the offseason.
Roster Attrition
Penn State Football seems to lose many draft-eligible under classmen every year, but that wasn’t the case this past offseason.
Obviously, there was little thought that either Pat Freiermuth or Odafe Oweh would return in 2021, but many expected Jahan Dotson, Jaquan Brisker, Rasheed Walker and Tariq Castro-Fields to join them in the NFL Draft. That was not the case.
Dotson, the team’s leading receiver in 2020, Walker, the starting left tackle, Castro-Fields, arguably the most experienced player on the team and Brisker, considered a top five safety in the country, will all be back in 2021.
No one would blame any of them for heading to NFL and chase their dreams, especially after how last season went, but they will all be playing one more season for Franklin.
Franklin wants what’s best for his players, and he likely had talks with all four about the decision, but he has to be happy to see so much talent returning for one more ride. These four players likely changed the outlook of this season and brought more optimism amongst fans for the 2021 year.