It seems as though more and more in college football, the weekly routine of releasing a depth chart is becoming a chore coaches want to spend less and less time fulfilling. Such is the case for Penn State’s first game of the season, it would seem.
Mondays are typically the days when depth charts for the upcoming weekend of games start making the rounds from athletic departments and sports information directors to members of the media. No such depth chart from Penn State was released, and head coach James Franklin knew this was something he was going to have to address during his regularly scheduled Tuesday press availability.
“We’ve always released a depth chart. I really don’t have a strong opinion either way,” Franklin said when discussing the subject of the depth chart. “There’s been multiple schools in the conference that haven’t been releasing it for a number of years. This year, we found out that Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Purdue either were not releasing it or were thinking about not releasing it, so it just didn’t make sense for us to do it if others weren’t.”
James Franklin on not releasing a depth chart… "I really don't have a strong opinion either way."
Says he found out this year Illinois, Mich, Mich St, Minnesota, Purdue & others were thinking about not releasing one or thinking about it. #PennState
— Allie Berube (@allieberube) August 31, 2021
James Franklin up now on zoom for his weekly news conference.
"I know the question is coming about the depth chart form somebody." Says the local media knows what the depth chart is and that we see enough at practice.
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) August 31, 2021
For what it is worth, Wisconsin did release a depth chart for this weekend’s game.
Before their Week 0 matchup, Nebraska and Illinois opted not to release a full depth chart. As noted, it is likely other Big Ten schools may decide against releasing an actual depth chart. And Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has been a stickler against providing an actual depth chart in recent years so much that it became a bit of a joke.
The logic against releasing a depth chart is a simple one from a coaching perspective. You just do not want to give your opponent any kind of insight into how you are crafting your team for that upcoming game. This is especially true early in the season when you have yet to take the field.
However, it’s not as though Wisconsin is not already preparing to go against Sean Clifford at quarterback, Jahan Dotson at wide receiver, Tariq Castro-Fields at cornerback and PJ Mustipher in the middle of the defense. So this decision comes off looking a little like unnecessary pettiness that coaches tend to dabble in.
Franklin commented local media attending practices likely have a strong feel for how the depth chart will look, and perhaps there are not too many surprises in the works. But is it the end of the world just to shed a little more light into what to expect out of the roster going into the first game of the season?
Apparently, it is.
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