Tag: James Franklin

Two Badger 2021 targets commit to Penn State

Twin brothers Kalen and Kobe King announced earlier today that they are committing to the Penn State Nittany Lions after they both…

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Twin brothers Kalen and Kobe King announced earlier today that they are committing to the Penn State Nittany Lions after they both listed Wisconsin in their top-7 schools a week ago.

The Detroit natives both listed Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Arkansas and Penn State as five of their top-seven schools with Kobe including Iowa State and Minnesota and Kalen including Nebraska and Missouri as the final two.

Kalen is a four-star cornerback who ranks as the 24th-best cornerback recruit in the nation and Kobe is a three-star inside linebacker who ranks as the 20th-best linebacker prospect.

The brothers will now line up across from Head Coach Paul Chryst‘s unit when they arrive in State College, Pa. to join Head Coach James Franklin‘s program.

Penn State coach James Franklin started a feud at his gym when he took 25-pound weights home

This is quite a story.

Penn State head coach James Franklin is trying to keep in shape like the rest of us are during social distancing, and he’s trying to use the gym where he lives only when there isn’t anyone else in there.

But as he told reporters earlier this week, he’s run into a bit of a problem: there’s someone who, as he said, is “dominating” the weight room. So he did what any sensible adult might do: he grabbed a pair of dumbbells to use in his house.

That ignited a bit of a feud. Here’s the story from Franklin via the York Daily Record:

“We won’t go in the weight room with other people in there,” Franklin said Wednesday during a video conference with reporters. “And so I took the 25-pound (dumbbells) and brought them up to our condo because I couldn’t get in there, a guy was dominating the weight room.”

Franklin then smiled.

“Then he left a nasty note in there. He said, ‘Whoever stole the 25-pound weights, could you bring them back?’ So then I wrote a little note that said, ‘Well, could you stop dominating the weight room for three hours a day?'”

We’re all just trying to get by one day — or set of dumbbells — at a time.

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The Athletic ranks CFB’s best coaches – Is Kirby Smart too low?

The Athletic ranked the best coaches in college football, but did they rank Georgia football’s Kirby Smart too low?

This week, Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman of The Athletic ranked college football’s top coaches.

Kirby Smart checked in relatively high on both lists, but is he high enough?

Here are the two lists.

Stewart Mandel:

1. Nick Saban (Alabama) and Dabo Swinney (Clemson)

3. Ed Orgeron, LSU

4. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma

5. Kirby Smart, Georgia

6. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame

7. James Franklin, Penn State

8. Dan Mullen, Florida

9. Paul Chryst, Wisconsin

10. Bill Clark, UAB

Bruce Feldman:

1. Nick Saban, Alabama

2. Dabo Swinney, Clemson

3. James Franklin, Penn State

4. Ed Orgeron, LSU

5. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma

6. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M

7. Kirby Smart, Georgia

8. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame

9. Kyle Whittingham, Utah

10. Scott Satterfield, Louisville

Let’s discuss:

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Notre Dame Football: Tight End U Finds New Tight Ends Coach

former Rutgers offensive coordinator at Penn State analyst, John McNulty is expected to be named Brian Kelly’s new tight ends coach

Notre Dame has had a ridiculous run of talent for decades and decades at tight end and with a loaded class at the position in the 2020 recruiting class, that doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Now, the Fighting Irish appear to have a new tight end coach to lead the traditionally loaded position.

Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and Fox Sports reported Saturday morning that former Rutgers offensive coordinator at Penn State analyst, John McNulty is expected to be named Brian Kelly’s new tight ends coach.

McNulty is a football-lifer. He was a safety at Penn State from 1988-1990 before beginning a coaching career as a graduate assistant at Michigan. Since then his stops have included Connecticut, the Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, Rutgers, Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and again at Rutgers before joining James Franklin’s staff at Penn State as an analyst late in 2019.

247Sports & Irish Illustrated reported last week that McNulty was highly recommended by Nick Saban who once pursued him as an assistant.

I won’t pretend to know anything about him besides what his resume says but the fact Saban and Franklin speak highly of him, not just in words but in pursuing him speaks highly to me.

I doubt this hire makes or breaks the future of the position but I have trouble thinking the traditionally loaded position for Notre Dame doesn’t continue to produce at an extremely high level.

Potential 1st round draft pick Yetur Gross-Matos named in Penn State hazing suit

Find out which players were named in a Penn State hazing lawsuit brought by a former player.

Last week, CBS Sports had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers snatching prized pass rusher Yetur Gross-Matos in April’s NFL draft with the 14th pick. The Penn State star has both the size and athleticism to make an immediate impact with the Buccaneers, and would be a welcome addition to a growing young core that includes linebackers Devin White and Shaq Barrett (assuming, of course, Barrett and the Bucs reach a long-term deal this offseason).

But, today, Gross-Matos is in the news for a much different reason — one that could ultimately hurt his stock and potential first-round billing.

The suit was brought against Penn State by former defensive back Isaiah Humphries, who now plays for Cal. Gross-Matos was one of several upperclassmen named in the suit, with others being Damion Barber, Micah Parsons and Jesse Luketa.

The allegations, themselves, are pretty disturbing and you can read the entire list over on TMZ.

Suffice it to say, any Penn State player named in this suit, including Gross-Matos, will have to answer the NFL teams in the months leading up to April’s draft. Character issues are major red flags for clubs, and these allegations should not be taken lightly.

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James Franklin tackles player who gave him a Gatorade bath after Cotton Bowl win

The Penn State coach had the best reaction to his Gatorade bath.

Although it was only a two-point game late in the third quarter, Penn State beat Memphis, 53-39, in Saturday’s Cotton Bowl Classic after the Nittany Lions held off the Tigers’ solid comeback attempt. In addition to Penn State’s 35 first-half points being the most in the first 30 minutes of the Cotton Bowl history, the 92 combined points were also the most in the bowl’s history.

Naturally, Penn State players celebrated the victory by drenching James Franklin with a Gatorade bath with one second left on the clock. But the team’s six-year head coach had the best possible reaction to the predictable celebration.

After getting soaked, Franklin immediately turned around and tackled senior linebacker Cam Brown, one of the two players holding the Gatorade jug.

To be fair, Franklin has been known to tackle members of his team when he’s absolutely overjoyed.

Of course, college football Twitter absolutely loved it and had jokes, as people were particularly impressed with Franklin’s form.

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Kirk Ciarrocca to Penn State is a coup for the Nittany Lions

Big news in Big Ten football

The Wisconsin Badgers just watched the landscape shift in the Big Ten. How that landscape will change is still an open question, but when a high-profile offensive coordinator changes schools within the same conference, it is a big story. When that coordinator changes divisions in the conference, it is a big story.

The news broke Thursday morning: Minnesota Golden Gophers offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca agreed to become the new offensive coordinator for James Franklin at Penn State, after Ricky Rahne left Happy Valley to become the new head coach at Old Dominion.

The Wisconsin defense and coordinator Jim Leonhard shut down Ciarrocca’s attack in a 38-17 win over the Gophers on Nov. 30. Nevertheless, Ciarrocca — who had been with P.J. Fleck at both Western Michigan and Minnesota — certainly helped Fleck rise to the top of the coaching profession. Ciarrocca just as clearly enabled Minnesota to substantially improve in 2019. In particular, the Gophers beat Penn State and James Franklin. Now, Franklin has snagged Ciarrocca.

We live in a volatile time in the coaching industry — not just in terms of the constant turnover of jobs every coaching carousel, but in terms of hires defying expectations. So many people (myself included) thought Jim Harbaugh would crush it at Michigan. Nope.

So many people (myself included) thought Tom Herman would do really well at Texas. Nope. So many people (myself included) thought Ed Orgeron would fail at LSU. Nope. So many people (myself included) thought Willie Taggart would do reasonably well at Florida State. Nope, nope, nope. Given this reality, home-run hires on paper don’t necessarily become reality. Caution is warranted in predicting how hires will fare at new stops.

That said, it is hard to deny that Franklin got a good coordinator and upgraded the position from Rahne.

If you watched Minnesota beat Penn State, and if you watched Minnesota thrive until it faced Iowa and Wisconsin late in the 2019 season, you know that the Golden Gophers got a lot of production out of their receivers. Penn State got a lot of production out of its receivers under former offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, who helped Franklin reach the Rose Bowl and win the Fiesta Bowl before moving to Mississippi State. If Ciarrocca merely comes close to matching Moorhead, Penn State will become MORE of a threat to Ohio State in the Big Ten East. Michigan will have a harder time passing PSU.

The good news for Wisconsin in 2020: The Badgers don’t face Penn State in their East crossover games. UW plays Indiana, Michigan, and Maryland in the three East games.

Every Big Ten voter in the Amway Coaches Poll put Ohio State at No. 1

Six Big Ten coaches had votes in the Amway Coaches Poll this year. All of them put Ohio State at No. 1.

The Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports is decided by 65 FBS coaches. These 65 voters are split up relatively evenly between the ten conferences, to avoid potential bias. Not only is there possibly an incentive for coaches to make their opponents look stronger, but familiarity breeds respect, and coaches are generally most familiar with the teams in their own conferences.

Usually, the ballots for the Coaches Poll are kept private. No one knows which coach voted which way. However, in a tradition that came from the BCS, the poll does release the ballot of each coach for the final rankings. USA Today published those ballots, which contain some interesting nuggets.

An important takeaway, though, is that all sseven Big Ten coaches will ballots put Ohio State at No. 1. The Buckeyes received 14 first-place votes in the final poll, and a full half those 14 came from Big Ten coaches. Chris Ash of Rutgers, Jeff Brohm of Purdue, Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, Ohio State’s own Ryan Day, Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald, Penn State’s James Franklin, and Nebraska’s Scott Frost all put the Buckeyes in the top spot. (Even though Ash was fired partway through the season, his vote isn’t transferred to a different school or coach.)

This is not too unexpected. The trends for years have indicated that teams are slightly overrated (relative to the rest of the poll) by coaches in their own conference–which is why the bias is spread out the way the poll does it. Still, it’s noteworthy that the Big Ten coaches all think that Ohio State is the best in the land, while the vast majority of others had the Buckeyes at No. 2. A few coaches did have Ohio State at No. 3 behind both LSU and Clemson, but no one had the Buckeyes lower. In fact, astonishingly, every single coach (and every single AP voter) had the Oklahoma Sooners at No. 4–not a single voter had them higher or lower.

James Franklin Extended at Penn State: Who’d You Rather?

Since taking the Penn State job in 2014 he’s returned the Nittany Lions to glory, winning the Big Ten in 2016 before falling in the Rose Bowl to USC. What about Kelly?

News came down Friday that Penn State head football coach James Franklin has been extended through 2025, putting an end to rumors he’d end up at Florida State.

That got me wondering about where Brian Kelly ranks in terms of all college football coaches.

If Saban is the GOAT and Dabo Swinney is the next best thing going, how far down would you have to go in order to find Brian Kelly?

James Franklin took a program that was awful before and has again turned south since his departure into a pretty respectable team in his time at Vanderbilt.

Since taking the Penn State job in 2014 he’s returned the Nittany Lions to glory, winning the Big Ten in 2016 before falling in the Rose Bowl to USC.

He’s gone 55-23 overall since 2014 but 44-11 in his four years Penn State has played without any scholarship restrictions.

Residing in the Big Ten East is no simple life as Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan sit in your division and provide top-tier competition on an annual basis (OK, perhaps not Michigan State).

It gets me wondering though, which coach would you rather have if I were to give five years with each at the helm?

Brian Kelly took advantage of a generous schedule by year-three and had Notre Dame playing in (and getting blown out in) the national championship his third year on campus. Year-nine saw Kelly take Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff where eventual national champion Clemson routed them, 30-3.

Franklin has won at Penn State and in his first year without scholarship restrictions won the Big Ten. However, he hasn’t done so again and despite having a top-ten team this season, is yet to get back to that second Rose Bowl appearance.

I’m curious which coach you’d rather have going forward.

Brian Kelly appears to have an elite recruiting class taking shape for 2021, 11 years into his run.

Franklin again won ten games in one of college football’s best divisions and seems to have Penn State on a level they haven’t been at with any consistency since the nineties.

It’s a tough to make a choice and both coaches bring plenty of off-the-field drama with them.

But gun to my head, Kelly has shown an ability to hire quality assistants on the regular who often take head jobs elsewhere and find the next up-and-comer in the coaching ranks regularly.

That’s something Franklin is yet to show, as he has watched only Joe Moorhead leave, taking the Mississippi State job previous to 2018.

Although a longer tenure, Kelly has seen Chuck Martin, Matt LaFleur, Butch Jones, Bob Diaco and Autry Denson take head jobs elsewhere after being his assistants at various points the last decade or so.

The ability to hire quality assistants is so important to me and if Kelly keeps seeing assistants get head-jobs, it must mean he’s doing something right.

James Franklin is a very good college football coach and worthy of every dime he gets from Penn State.

But even if you complain about Brian Kelly on the regular, would you take Franklin over him given the chance?

At very worst that question is harder than you’d like to admit while truthfully, Kelly’s resume at Notre Dame is incredibly-difficult to compete with unless you’ve actually won a national championship.

Franklin’s extension at Penn State and the desire of other premier programs to hire him should make you appreciate Brian Kelly as a coach a bit more, even if you’re not entirely in love with him.

Watch what Penn State head coach James Franklin said about Ohio State postgame

Penn State head coach James Franklin met with the media after his team lost to Ohio State. He was very complimentary of this Buckeye team.

Penn state came to Columbus intent on knocking off a No. 2 ranked Ohio State team that seems to be on a path to greatness. It fell down early 21-0 but battled back to cut the lead to 21-17 before both defenses tightened up.

In the end, the Nittany Lions lost to the Buckeyes 28-17 and will now try to finish out the season on a high note against Rutgers next week. We like their chances here at Buckeyes Wire.

As we always do, we like to bring you the comments of the opposing coach after each Ohio State game, and we’ve got head coach James Franklin’s comments for you thanks to the YouTube channel of Blue White Illustrated.

Click on the below and watch Franklin compliment the skill and coaching of Ohio State, talk about the culture of his team, and continue to heap praise on Justin Fields and this Buckeye squad.