ALTOONA, Pa. -- James Franklin addressed a number of important topics during his press conference at Big Ten media days on Wednesday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and the coach was his usual positive self when giving an overview of this year's team.
"Very excited about where we're at," he said.
But while Franklin gave praise to just about every one of the Nittany Lions' units, he did mention one aspect that certainly will be a question mark this year.
"Linebacker is the question, right," Franklin said. "I'll get that question throughout the day.
"We feel really good about our two outside linebacker positions. At the middle linebacker position, we're gonna have a competition that will go deep into camp to see who is gonna lead our defense."
Penn State has to replace starting linebackers Brandon Smith and Ellis Brooks, both now in the NFL. Curtis Jacobs and Jonathan Sutherland will be the outside linebackers, while the middle spot figures to be between Kobe King and Tyler Elsdon.
Penn State is known as Linebacker U, so rarely does a season come along when some of the biggest question marks are at linebacker. But that could be the case this year.
The Lions' biggest question mark this season, no doubt, will be the offensive line. Which pretty much always seems to be the case at Penn State.
"O-line is the group that we come and talk about every single year," Franklin said. "And I tell you, 'This is going to be the year for the next step at that position.' I'm not going to do that this year. I'm going to let them prove that to you on the field. But I've been very, very pleased with that unit."
Once Franklin was finished talking, Big Ten analyst Joshua Perry had this to say about the Lions' offensive line on the broadcast:
"The run game is going to be big for them. You look offensively, that was the biggest thing holding that offense back (last year), and quite frankly, they had some really good running backs on that offense. It was the offensive line that wasn't creating the push."
Franklin had a lot of positive things to say about several other units on the team. Here's a summary:
Quarterback: "Obviously, returning an experienced player at the quarterback position (in Sean Clifford), a starting guy, has been a captain for three years. But this year our depth at the quarterback position with four quarterbacks that we feel very, very strong about. We feel great about the competition in that room." The other three players he was referring to are Christian Veilleux, Drew Allar and Beau Pribula.
Tight ends/running backs: "I put our tight end room up against any other program in the country. Feel great about that room. Same thing with our running back room."
Wide receiver: "Losing a young man like Jahan Dotson as a first-round draft choice is obviously impactful. But again, our two-deep and our three starters, I feel like, have a chance to be as good if not better. ... So, feel really good on the offensive side of the ball with what we're able to do, especially with our offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, this being year two for him."
Defensive line: "The game starts up front. We feel really good about our defensive line. ... Excited about what (PJ Mustipher) is going to be able to do and leading our front that's a position of strength for us, not only at defensive tackle, but also at defensive end.
Secondary: "We felt like we got a chance -- and this has been kind of a year-to-year routine -- we've done a great job in the secondary recruiting and developing. Feel like that has a chance to be a strength for us."
Special teams: "Jake Pinegar is a young man that people probably are not listing as a starter but was the starter for us for two years before the last the last two seasons (when Jordan Stout was the kicker). So here's a young man has been in our program a long time and has a chance to contribute and do so do some big things."
Speaking in general about the program, Franklin noted several times that there's good depth everywhere.
"One of the things that probably stands out about our team right now is I love our overall depth," Franklin said. "I think our overall depth is as good as it's been in a number of years.
"I think a couple of things have factored into that is obviously we had a very well-regarded recruiting class coming in, a combination of some transfer student-athletes -- not a lot -- and a junior college player in this class. What we've been able to evaluate since they've been on campus is there's probably a larger number of those young men that we feel like are going to be able to impact our program and our organization earlier in their careers than probably in our normal recruiting classes. So we're excited about that kind of going through our roster."
Rather than waiting to see if he would be asked about the issue, Franklin addressed the ongoing college union topic with regards to Clifford in his opening statement. The coach likes to tackle controversial subjects in opening statements at press conferences so that he can say what he wants to say, then note that he doesn't really want to address the matter any further, which often prevents any questions about it.
Franklin didn't really offer any specifics about any union stuff or Clifford's specific involvement. Here's what he had to say:
"One of the things I did want to address is obviously some of the reports that were made with Sean Clifford and the Big Ten Improving athlete benefits. One of the things I'm very, very proud of is the relationships that we have with our players at Penn State. It's something that I truly believe in, and having these open discussions and dialogue with your players is important.
"(New AD Pat Kraft) is good on campus and has jumped in with both feet and has done a really good job in a very, very short period of time and developing those relationships, as well. And to me that's the nature of college athletics and college football right now that you'd better be willing and able to have discussions that maybe we haven't had in the past. There's been more changes in college football over the last three years than probably the previous 25. And those are great discussions and dialogue, and I'm blessed and fortunate to have a team and an administration that's willing to have these conversations at the end of the day.
"Our players, and specifically Sean, want what's best for college athletics, want what's best for Penn State, want what's best for the Big Ten So I couldn't be more proud of them. But any of the details and specifics that we have dealt with kind of behind the scenes within our family. within our organization, I'm not going to get into them today."
Lastly, Franklin noted that Penn State will open preseason camp Sunday. The school had yet to confirm that date until the coach did so Wednesday.