James Franklin evaluates Penn State’s early practices, performance of freshmen players

STATE COLLEGE — As Penn State’s Sept. 1 season-opening date at Purdue inches closer, the leader of the Nittany Lions’ program has learned plenty about a team attempting to rebound from a 7-6 finish in 2021.

James Franklin, in his ninth season, is supervising a 2022 group that features a number of talented first-year players, a product of Penn State’s recent recruiting success.

Franklin spoke at length about a few true freshmen and his team’s overall progress after Penn State’s practice Wednesday night.

The presence of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen gives the Lions a number of dangerous options at running back.

Penn State returns leading rusher Keyvone Lee, now in his third season. He averaged 4.9 yards per attempt last season, and the Lions’ run-game struggles had little to do with his performance. But it’s pretty clear Singleton, a five-star recruit, and Allen have the potential to be difference-makers early this year.

“They’ve been really good, really both of them,” Franklin said.

“Obviously, there have been a lot of conversations about Nick Singleton, but him and Kaytron, there’s a buzz within our program about those two guys and what they’re doing.

“I know Sean (Clifford) is really excited about it, I know the young quarterbacks are really excited because they’re going to have more time with them. I think it’s created a really good competition in that room.”

The play of the running backs, however, will be tied to the performance of an offensive line that struggled to open holes for running backs and struggled to protect Clifford a year ago.

“Once again, (Singleton and Allen) gotta go out and do it under the lights against Big Ten competition and other teams in other conferences that we play,” Franklin said.

“But they are big enough, they are strong enough, they both seem to have pretty high football IQs, they don’t seem to be overwhelmed. I think the fact they were both able to be here in the spring and summer, that helped, too. They’re doing really well. … They both have really earned a lot of respect already in a short period of time.”

Franklin loves PSU’s young talent but conceded there have been some bumps in the road from a mental perspective.

“We kinda hit the wall with some of the guys today in terms of install and red zone and third down,” Franklin said.

“We had some young guys that I think, basically, the install started to pile up on them. We had a few more missed assignments.

“The other thing is, we’re doing some creative things on defense and we’re doing some creative things on offense and that causes some challenges for the young guys. This will be great film for us. The competitiveness has been really good, I think we’ve been really physical, as well, which has been important for us.”

True freshman defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, a five-star prospect, is as good as advertised.

In other words, he’s not your typical first-year defender.

“He’s just so much more physical, compared to most guys,” Franklin said of Dani-Sutton, who played his prep ball at McDonogh in Maryland.

“He benches 400 pounds, he’s 255 pounds. Physical, comes from a great program that we’ve had a lot of success.

“But again, he wasn’t able to be here in the spring and he wasn’t able to get here early in the summer as well, so he’s playing a little catch-up right now. There’s excitement for him, whether it’s Game 1 or Game 4, we’ll see. I think he’s trending in the right direction.”