UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Three Penn State freshmen are well on their way to redshirts, but that hasn't stopped them from impressing James Franklin during this week's developmental scrimmages.
As freshman running back Journey Brown darted 25-plus yards Wednesday night down the sideline of Holuba Hall with Saquon Barkley's eyes following him down the field, it became clear that the former PIAA track and field standout is maintaining that same gold-medal speed that propelled him to back-to-back PIAA state crowns in the 100-meter dash. However, seeing Brown break tackles in pads is a development that Franklin and the staff continue seeing unfold behind the scenes.
"Being able to run fast on a track and being able to do it at this level, he's really shown something these past few weeks," Franklin said Wednesday night following the Lions' developmental scrimmage, a staple of the team's bye week plans. "He has the ability to break tackles, which you didn't know because in high school he was just faster than everybody. ... He's gaining a lot of confidence and there's a lot of excitement."
Add freshman safety Jonathan Sutherland and freshman offensive lineman CJ Thorpe to the list of young players who impressed Franklin thus far, two players he's highlighted before. It's Thorpe's nastiness that stands out to the staff while he, like most young linemen, still needs to continue improving in pass protection. Sutherland's physicality and attention to detail impressed Franklin.
As the No. 3 Nittany Lions' bye week rolls on, the Lions' graduate assistants will run a developmental scrimmage and practice on Thursday for the team's non-travel squad players. The rest of the starters and key contributors -- many of whom cheered from the sidelines during the end of Wednesday's workout -- are done with practice until Sunday.
However, getting out of town early for the bye weekend isn't easy for anyone. Franklin was heading straight from the practice field to the airport for a recruiting trip in Texas while the team's assistant coaches will take similar visits to their territories.
"We'll be all over the place," Franklin said of the the staff's recruiting plans for the weekend. "Most of the staff except for the coordinators will be out all of those days. ... I don't think I get back here until 12 or 1 in the morning Saturday night and I don't get to Texas until 12:30 or 1 o'clock in the morning tonight. The coordinators have two less days. Those guys are in here until part of Friday to clean up some of the game-planning stuff and get a little bit more of a head start [on Michigan]."
The players will still need to attend classes the rest of the week and continue watching at least 30 minutes of film per day before those who live within an easy enough travel distance can opt to head home. They'll all need to return to campus on Sunday when the Lions will flip the page to Michigan preparations. Rather than spending half of Sunday making corrections from the previous game, the Lions can then use that extra time, what Franklin calls a bonus day, for Michigan prep.
"More than anything I want them to do a great job when it comes to rest and more than anything I want them to do a great job when it comes to nutrition," he said. "Obviously they'll have some free time and be able to go out and enjoy themselves, but I want them to do that like gentlemen as well and, whatever they do, do it in moderation. The most important thing is for them to go home and recharge their batteries and watch some film on their own."
When will Franklin get to recharge his batteries? Beyond pushing back the coaching staff's weekday meetings from 7 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. this week, which allows the coaches to take their kids to school, this weekend is anything but vacation time for them.
"We're out ripping and running and I'd make the argument that with recruiting, sometimes you're out trying to maximize that day so much because you only get so many days, that sometimes it's more grueling," he said.
"It's not like the old days where you're going to recruit Maryland and just hit every school in Maryland," he continued. "No, you're going to see specific prospects all over the country, so it's pretty demanding. We'll get our time off after signing day."
QUICK HITS
• Franklin said redshirt sophomore defensive end Ryan Buchholz praised defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos in the summer, a move that helped solidify the staff's decision to burn the true freshman's redshirt. While Buchholz's say was far from the only voice that mattered with this decision, Franklin said the staff likes to take everything -- from strength coach Dwight Galt's perspective to the academic advisor's take on the player -- into account before making any redshirt decisions.
After the Lions lost defensive end Torrence Brown for the season with an injury, it only further proved that playing Gross-Matos this year was the right decision.
"He's willing to give up some of his reps for Shaka [Toney] or for Yetur," Franklin said of Buchholz. "He's just a really mature guy and you know, you wish you had 20 guys like him, just the type of teammate he is."
• The Lions spent one whole day this week self scouting and looking to identify their own tendencies. While Franklin of course wouldn't say what they uncovered, he did have the Lions' defensive staff write up a report or evaluation of the offensive staff's tendencies and the offense did the same on the defense.
"I think a lot of times, and it's the same thing with you guys, you write an article and you got a typo in there but you've looked at it so many times you skipped over it. It's the same thing with us. We're too close to our work sometimes," he said. "Getting a fresh set of eyes in there I think is important. I like where we're at, but it's going to be important Sunday. Sunday is a bonus day for us."
• The Lions' improvement with takeaways can be traced back to the JUGS work in the offseason, a scene that was a common post-practice occurrence for the Lions' linebackers and defensive backs. Not only did that improve their ball skills, it also instilled confidence in them that rather than trying for a pass break up they can now come down with the pick, Franklin said.
"I just think it's no different than anything else in life in that when you invest in something it builds confidence that you're going to be able to get a return on that investment some day," he said. "That's the biggest difference. Our guys really spent a lot of time in the offseason, no different than the wide receivers and tight ends on working on their ball skills."
• Did the self scouting reveal anything about the Lions' field goal unit? Well, Franklin shrugged it off and went back to last week's response that the issues -- Tyler Davis hitting 6-of-13 field goals with two of them getting blocked this season -- stem from a lack of execution. He's said this multiple times this season, but Daivs of course missed late in the Northwestern game which is why this unit continues to be questioned.
• Michigan plays Indiana at noon Saturday, a game that Franklin and many of the Lions' players will keep an eye on.
"This part of the season it never works out perfect, so you're usually going back to the bowl game and you're going back to your game last year with them," Franklin said of finding film. "At this point in the season, a lot of times it's like that where you don't really have four really good games to use so you're trying to find the best available and it may be a three-game breakdown."