UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State's players concluded practice Wednesday night with all eyes focused on freshman offensive lineman CJ Thorpe.
With their helmets by their sides, the Nittany Lions looked on as senior Andrew Nelson and redshirt sophomore Ryan Bates handed over a helmet stripe to the former Pittsburgh Central Catholic standout, a rite of passage for Penn State's newcomers. While James Franklin has been complimentary of Thorpe and his classmate Des Holmes, praising both for their physicality, surely getting a little public recognition from their teammates at this point in the season is a boost for Penn State's younger players who are working through the challenge of taking a redshirt.
"Guys really struggle," Franklin said Wednesday night after practice. "I'm dealing with that right now where there's a lot of guys this time of year every year it happens at this time and I think DaeSean [Hamilton] is one of those guys who instead of kind of sulking it really kind of lit a fire in him to prepare and practice to make sure he was going to leave here with a significant career in wins and productions and he's done that."
While everyone comes to college and wants to contribute right away, the majority of players use their first year on campus to develop physically and mentally. With just Lamont Wade, Tariq Castro-Fields and Yetur Gross-Matos burning their redshirts this season, grinding through the rest of the season can prove challenging for those who run the scout team during the week and who know they won't suit up on Saturdays.
While the Lions have their final home game on Saturday against Nebraska, their practice schedule the following week -- a week where Penn State shuts down for Fall break -- usually allows for the players who aren't on the travel roster to head home for Thanksgiving. With the end of the semester in sight, many of Penn State's younger players are anxious to get to spring ball, knowing the redshirt is off and they have a chance to compete for playing time. At this point in the year redshirt statuses won't change unless something drastic would happen, making it all the more difficult for players to stay motivated day after day.
It's a developmental phase that Hamilton, a fifth-year senior remembers all too well. While his redshirt was the result of an injury, he's taken freshman receiver KJ Hamler under his wing to make sure Hamler, who enrolled last January after missing his senior season in high school due to a knee injury, is doing all he can to stay upbeat.
"I talk to KJ all the time, talk to Mac [Hippenhammer], guys like that," Hamilton said Wednesday. "Especially around this time it's around the end of the year and they're really just getting excited that that redshirt year is about to be over with and the breaks start happening with Thanksgiving break. ... Some guys start getting homesick and it's the end of the semester and you can't wait for it to be over and things like that. I know from my standpoint I couldn't wait until that first year was over."
While there soon will be bowl prep and the practices that accompany the bowl game are instrumental in helping to continue to develop the future of the team, in between it all Franklin has to find time to meet with players one-on-one to keep them optimistic and looking at the bigger picture.
The head coach cautioned that is isn't only true freshmen who go through this late struggle in the season either. With redshirt freshmen finally seeing the field this season, should they not be taking on the role they envisioned, or having the impact they hoped so early on in their careers, Franklin said that too is a challenge to manage.
"They go through the first wave of disappointment when they find out they're redshirting or their role isn't as big as they imagined it would be and that's usually a struggle and then they rebound from that and then late in the season they're getting beat up, they're kind of getting worn down and they're simulating the opponent," Franklin said of his freshmen. "There comes a point where they're just like, 'Alright, enough is enough. I want spring ball to be here so I can start competing for a job,' That's kind of human nature. It takes a special guy to come out here and be self-motivated like that day after day and be driven."
Trying to get 18 and 19-year-old players to think longterm and understand that their careers are still on track is a challenge Franklin and his staff -- like all others in the country -- face at this point in the season.
"[It's] the redshirt freshmen that are not All-Big Ten, All Americans or starters for you yet and they couldn't be more frustrated," Franklin said. "I'm like, 'You're a redshirt freshman. You've got so much time left.' As we all know when you're young it's hard to see any further than six months. To be honest, it's hard for most of us to see more than two weeks ahead. I just think there's so much pressure put on from the recruiting process and from home that a lot of these guys feel like they've gotta make it to the NFL and there's pressure from the family and they've got to do it within three years and all this craziness."
"We've all been doing this long enough that you look at the data and the data says this is not realistic," he continued. "But we're not living in a world of reality, but I could say that about a lot of things."
QUICK HITS
• Left tackle Ryan Bates and starting defensive end Ryan Buchholz were both present for the 10-minunte portion of practice open to the media. That's the first both have been at practice during the open media period since they were both hurt during the Ohio State game.
Now, neither did any red zone work, but they were in pads like the rest of their teammates and looked like they'd worked up a lather before the media was let in. It's far from any indication of whether or not they will suit up against Nebraska, but it certainly looks like they're trending upward after not dressing the last two weeks.
• Freshman quarterback Sean Clifford, who is well on his way to a redshirt, was back in pads after not suiting up for warmups last week. Clifford, the Lions' No. 3 quarterback, continued to have his right wrist wrapped.
• I asked cornerback Grant Haley about leaving his position group behind here in the coming months and what that means for John Reid and the future of Penn State's corners. That's a group that Haley said should be very deep next season and with Reid having two years of eligibility left -- something Franklin's already expressed twice in the past week that he hopes Reid stays for all five years -- cornerbacks coach Terry Smith should have a loaded room. Smith meets with the media Thursday where this surely will be a talking point.
• Franklin spoke about the value of finding recruits who go beyond what they show on film, urging that in this day and age anyone -- even the media members at practice -- could probably string together seven clips that make them look decent. While we won't go that far, it does speak to the challenge of finding players who are dominant and much of that comes down to seeing the player in person, doing a thorough evaluation or their background and character.
Franklin said Penn State when recruiting offensive linemen wants to see players who are also dominant defensive linemen. In addition to asking around, checking the transcript and the GPA, all of those factors combine to let the staff know whether or not they're recruiting a prospect that's worthwhile as a fit for their program. Of course sometimes hearing those answers are more difficult when dealing with any elite, five-star prospect, Franklin said.
"Michal Menet, he was impressive on the defensive side of the ball," Franklin said. "There's enough things there that will tell you the story if you're willing to look for them and you're willing to ask."