ALTOONA, Pa. -- If there's anything 2020 has taught us, it's that there are many things more important than sports. Whether that's at the collegiate level or professional level, what's going on around the world is far more important that what happens on a field.
At Penn State, it's no different but what makes it more difficult is the task head coach James Franklin has navigating the emotions of 120 plus individuals who come from any and all backgrounds and ways of life. Franklin has the task of doing that as his team goes through not only emotional games on the field but emotional times off it with an election as well as pandemic go on in our country and also those players going through classes as well.
"To be honest with you that's been a little bit 2020 for everybody right? It's been a lot of things to manage other than school and football," Franklin said Wednesday night after practice. "There's been a lot of other things going in our country. There's been a lot of other things going on in our communities. You've got health issues and that, obviously, we're not even talking about personal issues that people are dealing with."
Of course, the Nittany Lions are not the only team going through this, every team in the country is, but it can be a lot to handle with 18-21 year old athletes as they navigate through school, football and what's going on in the world.
"There's just been a lot of things going on, a lot of hot topics, a lot of things in our country, a lot of things that could be distractions," Franklin said. "We talked about that all preseason that the most disciplined teams and the teams that were going to be willing to sacrifice were going to have the advantage over the teams that didn't but for every program in the country it's been a lot of things to manage."
Those things Franklin mentions include the pandemic, players opting out of the season, social issues around the country and even the election which is next week all while preparing to play a football game. Most of that would be hard to handle during a normal year, but with a pandemic it makes it even trickier to work through. Hopefully though, football can provide an escape, if not for a weekend, but just the few hours the players are on the field.
"What I hope, I hope that football is a little bit of a safe haven for our guys that they're able to kinda step away from all of those things and step on the field and focus," Franklin said.
It's not just the adjustment to the differences that's been hard for coaches around the country but also the change to their styles of coaching with limitations on just about everything possible. It's also drastically changed how programs interact off the field.
"It's just been very different. I think one of the biggest challenges for me is my leadership style is very in your face, very relational, I'm a hugger, I'm a high fiver, I'm that kinda guy and a big part of that, we haven't been able to do," Franklin said. "We usually take the guys to Champs or bowling alleys and have fun with them, it's very different. It's been a very different style and very different approach to how we do things."
While the coaches are dealing with it so too are the players who must wear masks in practice and during games when not on the field.
"Rasheed Walker comes up to me every single practice asking to take the mask off because his visor has just fogged up the entire practice and it drives him crazy," Franklin said. "He has a different reason every day on why we should take them off."
The differences between normalcy and the lives we lead now add up and get added to each and every day. Being able to navigate them daily for the normal person is difficult let alone leading a group of over 120 players or even being one of those players. And even more, being able to go out and do your job to the best of your ability while surrounded outside of the sports bubble by uncertainty, division and illness.
Now, more than ever, the world, these players and coaches need that escape for a few hours on Saturday afternoons to gain that sense of normalcy that's been lacking over the last 10 months.
More from Franklin's post-practice availability:
• On sophomore Keaton Ellis and the cornerbacks: "He's doing really well. We're big fans of Keaton, obviously as a true freshman he did some really nice things and we still feel that way. Joey (Porter Jr), for whatever reason, the light just really came on for him and had a really good summer and camp and did the same thing on Saturday. I think that's a really competitive room, we feel the same way about Marquis (Wilson). We really got a great group there. They continue to develop and compete."
• On linebacker Lance Dixon: "I'm really proud of Lance. He's grown in so many different ways. I think a lot of the specific, technical, fundamental things of playing linebacker, all the different looks you have to defend with the offenses we see and what we're asking him to do on defense. I think he just continues to grow and build confidence and transitions from a really athletic high school player to a big-time college linebacker."
• On the offensive line: "I think, overall, we protected pretty good. At times we were good in the run game, but there were times where I thought we could have been more detailed and got a little bit more push. We're going to be facing a really talented front that we're very familiar with. I expect us to take the next step, we're going to need to. I know coach (Phil) Trautwein and all those guys are really working hard. We need to take advantage of this opportunity. We've got a tremendous opportunity on Saturday and it starts up front with our o-line and our d-line. These games against Ohio State, although there's tremendous skill all over the field, a lot of these games have been dictated by the fronts."