James Franklin must make these key changes to get Penn State Football back on track

Coming off of another underwhelming Penn State Football season, the fanbase is anxious to see if James Franklin can help the program take a step forward in 2022.

There are a lot of underclassmen, as well as incoming freshmen, who have a lot of potential, and the Penn State Football coaching staff will be tasked with getting them ready to make a positive impact in 2022.

Penn State Football head coach James Franklin showed a willingness to acquire talent via the transfer portal last offseason, and doing the same this time around can be equally as impactful.

Franklin also needs to allow his assistant coaches and coordinators, who have mostly all proven to be good assets to a team either at Penn State or elsewhere, to do what he hired them to do.

These are 5 things that James Franklin and his Penn State Football coaching staff need to do to take a step forward in 2022.

Develop the underclassmen

Throughout Franklin’s tenure as head coach of Penn State Football, there have been certain positions that have been developed well, but others that have not. The ones that have not, have been some of the most important positions, namely the offensive line.

Landon Tengwall and Olu Fashanu are a pair of young offensive linemen who showed promise in the Outback Bowl who will be expected to start next season. 2022 signee from Lackawanna Community College, JB Nelson, will also joined the group and could play a significant role this season.

Phil Trautwein, who had success developing offensive lineman at Boston College where he turned former 2 and 3-star offensive linemen into all-conference selections and a first-round pick.

Defensive line coach John Scott Jr has to replace at least 3 out of 4 starters for his group (potentially 4 of 4 if PJ Mustipher goes pro).

Led by redshirt sophomore Smith Vilbert with 3 sacks, many of the young defensive linemen showed some promise against Arkansas, who had one of the best offensive lines in the country this season. John Scott Jr will need to continue to mold those young defensive linemen, as well as Dani Dennis-Sutton who could make an impact as a freshman, into a defensive line that can be a problem for Big Ten offensive lines.

Moving back to the second level of the defense, new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Manny Diaz will be tasked with preparing a primarily young and inexperienced group to make a positive impact in 2022.

Kobe King, Jamari Buddin, and Tyler Elsdon are all young and for the most part inexperienced players who will likely see their roles increase in 2022, as well newcomer Abdul Carter.

Additionally, Jonathan Sutherland is expected to become a full-time linebacker in 2022, so Diaz will need to refine his technique and help him make the transition from safety to linebacker. All of those names need to take a step forward this offseason to help returning starter, Curtis Jacobs, who had a great season, and Manny Diaz will need to be the guy to help them do that.

Safeties coach Anthony Poindexter was excellent in helping with the development of Jaquan Brisker and Ji’Ayir Brown, but he now has to replace Brisker. Keaton Ellis could be a name that fills that spot, and he has a lot of experience as a cornerback, and some at safety.

However, Jaylen Reed, who is a young safety that the staff thinks highly of, as well as 2022 signees Christian Driver and Mehki Flowers, could see a lot of playing time this upcoming season at safety, and if their development can replicate that of Brisker and Brown, it would be great for the 2022 Penn State Football defense.

Perhaps the most important position that needs to be developed well for 2022 is quarterback. Sean Clifford, while not great, certainly improved a lot from 2020 to 2021 under the direction of Mike Yurcich, who helped the veteran quarterback reach his ceiling as a Division I quarterback.

Yurcich needs to do a similar job of helping take Drew Allar’s game to the next level, and helping him reach his ceiling, which is very high.

While it is very unlikely that Allar will reach his peak as a freshman (most players don’t), he will be on campus in a few weeks as an early enrollee, so Yurcich will have a lot of time to work with him before the 2022 season kicks off.

If Allar can make a lot of strides in the right direction over the next nine months, he will have a chance to start as a true freshman, and while he will still make some mental errors with his lack of experience, should be welcomed by Penn State Football fans