PENN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 1, 2025

James Franklin

Press Conference

JAMES FRANKLIN: Just a couple quick notes. Like always, appreciate you guys coming out and covering Penn State football. This Sunday is our annual THON game. We are thrilled to welcome the Four Diamonds families to Happy Valley this weekend, which will be great. THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world and continues to enhance lives of children and families impacted by childhood cancer, something that been passionate, and our program and our trips to Hershey Children's Hospital and obviously the university for a very, very long time.

Just some facts on THON. Started in 1973; raised over $254 million for its beneficiary, Four Diamonds at Penn State Children's Hospital, which is obviously phenomenal. This past year raised over $17 million. So tremendous thing about Penn State and our partnership there.

When you do a quick recap on the Nevada game, the statistics that really jump out to you obviously the turnover balancing and 16 points off of turnovers. That was huge.

The explosive play battle, we won that, although we did not feel like we met our goal on offense. We won the statistic overall.

Third down battle.

Sack battle we won.

Drive start battle we won.

After the game I think I said we won the penalty battle. We did not.

And then middle eight was significant, being able to get that two-minute drive before the half for a number of reasons. Not just for the game and points, but also to get some work in two-minute drives. We had all three timeouts available at the end of the first half and end of the second half, which was a real positive for us as well.

I think you guys saw the game winners that we already announced, so I don't need to review that again.

Just some overall thoughts. I was pleased with an early season game and how clean things were and how organized we were. We had no issues that you see a ton of early games in a season with college football programs where they're burning timeouts, those types of things. Substitution issues; we didn't really have any of those.

You know, we did not have the delay of game except for the last one, which was frustrating.

But all those things I was pleased. I thought we started fast on offense and defense; creating turnovers was obviously big. Opening drive, a 13-play drive for a touchdown was significant.

I thought our special teams were excellent. When you take the kickoff return by King Mack that was blocked extremely well, plus four for four on field goals.

And then just really cool to see some guys that had season-ending injuries last year that came out and played really well, whether that's Cam Wallace or Apley or Keon Wylie or Alonzo Ford, guys that missed the year with season -- long injuries.

We had some other guys as well, but those guys I though really flashed and did some good things. We played 73 guys in the game. Ton of value in that. And not only 73 guys, but a lot those guys played 20 or more reps, so really good.

Opportunities for growth in that game, the standard is the standard. You hate that we -- the entire game we had given up a field goal, and we hate that we gave up a touchdown late in the game.

Overall, again, those reps will be really important for us and valuable.

Finishing drives. Finishing drives on offense, kicked too many field goals, which I think I got that question afterwards which was a fair question. I think Rich asked that question. More than anything, you look at the first -- one of the drives where the first play of the drive we're running outside zone and we don't block the three technique and we get a tackle for loss and now you're off schedule.

So that's what I think we still got to get cleaned up, is we had some missed assignments and things like that that made the game more difficult than it needed to be, so we need to get those things fixed up.

But to Rich's point, that was really what happened, is we'd get off schedule, somebody'd blow an assignment, we'd get a tackle for loss or a zero-gain play, and now we're kind of behind the sticks and weren't able to overcome that.

Same thing, situational football. Most of them were really good. The four-minute situation on offense where we went for it on fourth down to try to end the game on our terms and get those guys some more reps. The opposite of that is now we put our defense in a tough spot with a short field, but it was still an opportunity for the defensive guys to go out there and get reps and play well.

We were not able to finish that the way we wanted to and should have.

When you talk about penalties for us, the penalties that I really focus on are the pre-snap penalties and the post-whistle penalties, which to me are focus penalties. The pre-snap and the post-whistle penalties are selfish penalties where you're getting unsportsmanlike conduct and something like that. We had two of those pre-snap penalties.

Overall, pretty good.

When we get into FIU, I've known Coach Simmons for a long time. Got a ton of respect for him and the program. Obviously he was at Duke most recently with Manny. Is going to do a really good job. From Florida originally. Is a really good fit. Had been the head coach at Florida A&M before going with Manny to Duke and then taking over the FIU program.

Obviously still early in the season, so we're still getting to know them. It's still early in the week. We are getting to know him. They do have five returners starting; we have 20 starters returning; they have 25 transfer portal players on the roster.

You know, you look at how it's broken down, you know, 12 on offense, 10 on defense, and then 3 on special teams.

So it should be a good game, and we're looking forward to the opportunity.

When you break down some of their staff, Nick Coleman is their offensive coordinator. Most recently was at UAB as the quarterback's coach and has been at South Carolina and a number of other players as well.

There they're multiple personnel team, mainly 11 and 12 personnel. You'll see the traditional inside zone and outside zone, gap schemes, things like that. They did a really nice job in their first game. Put up so some pretty good stats and did some pretty good things, so there will be some challenges there.

Their quarterback No. 1, Keyone Jenkins, kid out of Miami is the preseason offensive player of the year in their conference, and then their running back No. 5, Kejon Owens, big back, 210 pounds out of Miami. Again, they're expecting big things from him this year.

And then Jovan Dewitt is a guy that I've known for a long time as well. Got a pretty extensive background, whether it's been at North Carolina or Nebraska or UCF. Been a bunch of places. Been a special teams coordinator or a defensive coordinator for most of his career.

Again, multiple defensive front. They will mix from both four down to three down, and obviously the new thing everybody is doing right now is five down package which showed up against us last week as well.

They'll mix the coverages up between middle of the field open and middle of the field closed looks. We been impressed with linebacker No. 0, Johnny Chaney, Colorado transfer.

DB No. 2, Brian Blades. I think everybody knows that name. Very familiar and legendary family in the Fort Lauderdale area, which is where he is from.

And then D-lineman No. 44 Keegan Davis, another Florida kid. D-lineman No. 25, Kenton Simmons, who's a junior college transfer. Big kid, 6'5", 260 pounds. He is from Mississippi.

And on special teams Kenneth Gilstrap. Again, UAB, Middle Tennessee. I think that's where their background -- you know, Willie had some time Middle Tennessee as well, so I think that's where their background comes from will be running the special teams.

Their kick returner, C'Quan Jnonpierre, kid from Fort Lauderdale. Again, conference USA special teams player of the year preseason.

And then punter, No. 6 Trey Wilhoit. He is a Florida A&M transfer.

So still getting to know them not only because it's early in the season, but getting into our rhythm of how we evaluate people. It's Monday and early in the season, so we only got really one game from this year. New staff, a lot of things that factor into it.

So we're going to have to be prepared just like we were last week, offense, defense, special teams. There will be things that show up in this game that we can't prepare for or anticipate based on film breakdown and study.

We need to take a significant step compared to where we were last week. Open up to questions.

Q. Can you please evaluate the play of your quarterbacks Drew and Grunk specifically and the passing game in general?

JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, I thought Drew played how the you would expect him to play. He was consistent. Made some big time throws. He made a couple out breaking throws that very few college players and a handful of NFL quarterbacks can make. Wide field outs that he threw on time into some contested coverage as well.

But I thought he played well. Made plays with his feet. Extended plays. He had that one run like I mentioned after the game that I would've liked him to get down a little bit faster. Took too many shots on that. Overall I was pleased. Played very, very clean. Missed the first touchdown throw to Hudson, which I would've loved to have been able to hit that throw. Besides that I thought played very clean.

Grunk came in and played well. I was very impressed him and his performance. He just looked -- I thought he played in the game better than he's practiced at times in terms of he wasn't holding on to the ball. He was decisive. When he did get pressure, he was able to step up in the pocket and find outlets quickly and get the ball out of his hand.

The one to Cam Wallace obviously was a highlight play where he hurdled and then the outlet throw to Rappleyea which was also a very big play. So I was very pleased how he played and how he managed the game overall.

Then to go down on a drive and score a touchdown and pick it up with his feet, that was positive as well. I was pleased with them.

The passing game in general, that was an emphasis going into the season and an emphasis in game one. We would like to get Ross a little bit more involved. You know, like I mentioned to you guys earlier, he had missed some time this summer, but like to get him involved. I thought Hudson and Pena really played well. I thought, again, the tight end committee I thought did some really good things.

And once again, getting our running backs involved in the passing game too. So overall good. I think if you combine Grunk and Drew's numbers together, pretty good numbers, completion percentage-wise, touchdown to interception ratio, yardage, all that kind of stuff.

The last thing I would probably say is just like to get a few more chunk plays and get the ball down the field a little bit more from an explosive standpoint.

Q. A lot of big games over the weekend. Wondered if you could take us into your basement. Do you watch them? Do you take notes? What is your approach when you watch some potential future opponents?

JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, so like everybody else, by the time I get out of here after the press conference, shower, get all my stuff together, get back to the office then get home, it's usually a little bit later than most.

But then I go in and make smalltalk with friends and family in the kitchen for about 13 minutes. I tell everybody I'm going down to the basement. Not trying to be anti-social, but I want to go down in the basement and watch games. If they want to come down, great. But they know not to come down and start peppering me with questions.

I sit sometimes in my boxers and T-shirt and watch games and try to relax and enjoy it. To your point, we don't watch game like normal people. Like the players are sending me, hey, coach, did you see that situation? So two minute situations at the end of the game and they didn't use their timeouts effectively or four minute and the runner ran out of bounds or whatever it is.

So constantly shooting those things to me and the staff is doing the same thing so we can watch those things on Sunday after we get through our film. Just constantly using examples like that to teach situational football and awareness. Obviously sometimes there are people that will on our schedule, and depending on who they're playing, those games can be attractive to watch as well.

Yeah, that's kind of usually the process. Usually I try to get to bed at a fairly reasonable hour because I'm not a night guy anyway. I'm a morning guy and usually come in the office pretty early on Sunday to get started on grading the last film before I watch it with both offense, defense, and special teams and separate units and on to the next opponent.

So I don't know if that's the answer you're looking for. It was a long one. I apologize for the visual of me sitting in my boxers in my basement. That's usually what it looks like.

Q. (No microphone.)

JAMES FRANKLIN: I don't know if you heard that, but Brennen said, you're probably in your boxers right now. Business from the waist up and...

Q. You said I think a little bit ago that you had a chance to play I think 73 players, and I know that it's kind of been a priority to kind of develop depth along the defensive line once you get past guys like Zane and Dani and Ford, guys like that. What did you think of your D-line depth guys inside and outside, and how much do you think they're going to gain from kind of those extended reps they got?

JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, so obviously not having Zuriah, we were hopeful to have Zuriah. I will say this: We got to the game and Zuriah was excited and wanted to play. We kind of held him just because at that point he hadn't practiced enough and didn't think that was the right thing to do for him or us.

My point is I think that explains how close he is. He's close to being back, and that will be significant getting him back. You guys know how I feel about him. Chaz Coleman didn't play as many reps as I said, but still played a bunch. I think he played over 20 reps. Flash did some really good things. I think he's got a very, very bright future. He was kind of walking in with me in the tunnel and was like, I'm glad I got that over with because I was nervous and I don't have to be nervous anymore.

I thought Kemajou did some really good things as well. He's got a bright future. Excited about him.

Hopefully get Mason Robinson back, older player that we would be excited about getting him back into the rotation, too. There is a chance of that. I thought Ty Blanding showed up a couple times showing his athleticism and how explosive he is.

He's a guy that we're really excited about. 195 pounds, really fast, really athletic. I think he'll just continue to get better and better as the year goes on.

I think we have found a home for Enai White. We're pretty athletic at defensive end and so is Enai.

He's 276 pounds right now and he is really not trying to gain weight. Just naturally where he is. I think if we can get him up to 185 by mid-season, he is going to be a really nice guy for to us factor into that rotation.

You guys know we been high on Xavier Gilliam and he played the way we expected him to play. Owen Wafle is a young exciting play for us as well that played a decent amount on Saturday and we are going to need that role to grow.

And Harvey and Mylachi at defensive end. We're young, but the first three games will be critical in terms of getting these guys as many reps as we can and then continue to pour into them.

But I think once you kind of get into Game 4, Game 5, they're no longer young players. They're guys that have played significant reps in college and we need them to act like it.

So what you need is both. You need a lot of young guys to grow up and grow up quickly, and you also need some of the vets that we're dependant on, hopefully they can get back into the rotation, specifically at defensive end. That will help.

Q. Who's your starting punter right now and could you talk a little bit about the competition between Riley and Gabe? I mean, Riley being a multi-year starter and Gabe always being there. Talk about that, how close that is, just the competition.

JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, so the fact that you guys didn't get to see a punter is awesome, right? I think that speaks to how well the offense was able to play.

That's unusual, I don't care who you're playing, to not have a punt in the game. But I also think your question about Gabe is -- Gabe is our starting punter right now. It's a really good example, a competition very similar at safety. I don't think before the year started there was a whole lot of the people talking about Belgrave-Shorter outside of the Lasch Building, and he earned the starting job.

Gabe did the same thing at punter. We've been very, very happy with Riley and got a ton of respect for him. He's going to end up playing for us this year and playing well, but Gabe is -- he's special. He's the closest thing to Jordan Stout that we've had here.

His A ball was always probably -- maybe as good as we have ever had here, but like a lot of those guys just wasn't consistent enough. He just had a phenomenal camp, not only in kickoff and punting but also field goal. He was really good in the field goal. He was competing for the starting job as the field goal kicker as well. Made a 62-yarder in practice in the stadium with the whole team around him watching, and probably would've been good from 65 or 66. But he's also, as we guys know, always had a big, strong leg and he just put it all together this summer and was consistent.

It was pretty obvious to everybody. I think Riley had a really good camp. It's just Gabe was more consistent with his A ball, and his A ball is as good as anybody in the country.

Q. The two-pint conversion, why did you try that play at the time in the game, and how did you assess that on Sunday?

JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, it was not well executed whatsoever, how we coached it, how it was ran. You know, they didn't have enough numbers to cover the O-lineman and the eligible to the field, which is why when we snap it and don't throw it over there, we're in a really tough situation now.

So it was not coached well. It was not executed well. But obviously you would like to get some of these things on film that people have to spend time working on.

You would be amazed how much time you spend working on things like that, all the different alignments, and you got to be sound or people can take advantage of it. So that was a miss on our part and on my part. We didn't do a good enough job of coaching that, teaching that, and on Saturday of executing that.

But the rational is to get some of those things on tape so that our future opponents have to deal with being prepared for it and taking time out of defense or special teams to work on that.

Q. I have a small clarification about your -- I have a regular question and also a small clarification about your response to Neil's question. You said you spend 13 minutes in the kitchen talking to people. I thought that was a very specific figure. Is that something you arrived at or were you just estimating?

JAMES FRANKLIN: Just an estimate, but my wife has a countdown clock she hits as I walk in. No, just can be longer, can be shorter. My point is the last thing I want to do is come home and get hammered with questions from family and friends about why we did this, why we did this, how we did that. That will be for Mike Gross on Monday. I don't need that in my kitchen after the game.

Q. And then the other thing is running the ball on Saturday, people think you're playing Nevada but this offensive line, these backs, you're just going to knock them over and run the ball crazy. With 3.8 yards a carry, wondering what do you attribute that, if anything? Also, these five-man fronts you referred to earlier, is that something you takes getting used to?

JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, it's very similar to the stuff that I talked about. They're going to get an extra hat in the box. They're playing some five-down front. Again, you're talking about more people to stop the run game or create one-on-one pass rushes and pass protection.

Yeah, I think, Mike, if you're the defensive coordinator at Nevada and you're coming into Penn State, the proven commodity is what? Nick and Fat and the running game. So everybody's model is going to be, we got to do everything we possibly can not to allow the obvious choice to beat us and force the wide receivers that we have not seen yet a whole lot and the passing game to beat you.

It's a combination I think philosophically what most people are going to do until we show it consistently that that we can beat you doing both things.

So I think it's a combination of both. I think it's philosophically what people are going to do to try to stop us, and then also us emphasizing an area that we need to improve on as well. I think it's a combination of both.

But we have to make sure that we're balanced enough that we can run or pass by the time we get to the mid-point of the season. That we can run or pass to win games, because the best teams, that's what they're going to do. They are going to try to take one of these things away. You got to figure out what those things are as early as you can in the game and take what the defense gives.

That was always giving something. They can't take away everything. That's where those wide field outs and things like that we were throwing on Saturday, most college defenses are going to give you the access to the field because most college quarterbacks can't make that throw.

Q. Were there any guys who kind of flashed to you in the last 10, 12 minutes the game? You talked about how important these first three games are.

JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, I think the ones that just jump out to me right away is Grunk, Cam Wallace, specifically magnified coming off injury; Rapp, you know, coming off an injury. Those are probably the guys that jumped out to me the most.

I thought some of the young defensive lineman that we've already talked about, I think they flashed as well. And then I think we also have just a number of guys that we're going to need to step up, step up into more significant roles.

Daryus Dixson flashed on the kickoff return where he came down in knife tackle, which was a thing of beauty. So he is a guy that flashes as well. So a number of guys, but those are the guys that probably jump out the most to me when you ask me that question.

Q. When you have a young quarterback like Grunk, obviously the game reps you mentioned he looked better than you thought he did in practice. What's the value of that? How do you maybe try and quantify that? What did you want to see him do next as he continues his development?

JAMES FRANKLIN: What is the value in what?

Q. The game reps. You said he looked better in practice. I know sometimes guys look better in the live reps.

JAMES FRANKLIN: Again, it's not that he hasn't practiced well. Him and Jackson have practiced well. There have been times where I questioned quarterbacks reps not being real reps because they know they can't get hit.

So how much do you make the quarterbacks live in practice, the backup quarterback, so you can get a true evaluation on them but not do it too much that you're putting those guys at risk.

Sometimes it's harder to evaluate the quarterback position because of all the positions, they get less of that. Being able to do it in a game and show that he would be able to work through progressions, make decisive decisions, be accurate with the ball, protect the ball, and also make some plays with his feet, even if it's just extending plays, stepping up in the pocket, and how quickly -- the thing I probably love the most is how quickly him and Drew found outlets and got rid of the balls.

To me that's one of the biggest things for young quarterbacks, is when you get pressure, do you know where your outlets are like the back of your hand. Boom, and you step up and go to the outlet right now. If the outlet is covered, you take off and run. I thought he did a phenomenal job a that.

Yeah, the biggest value in it is isn't like make believe football where you're back there in the pocket patting the ball, patting the ball, patting the ball waiting for something to come open, because the D-linemen, if they come anywhere near you, get their heads ripped off at practice. Like it's a fairytale world.

So it's really valuable to get those live reps in practice that we don't do very often, and then that's where the game reps are so important, because they're truly out there playing the game and managing the game and you're going to get a true evaluation.

So really valuable. Hopefully we will be able to get them more time this week and hopefully all season long.

Q. Could you explain a little bit on RB3, the depth there. You mention the Cam a couple times. I think he and Corey played equal snaps and didn't see Quinton. Analyze what you saw there.

JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, only reason you didn't see Quinton on offense or special teams is he had tweaked something and was out almost two weeks of training camp. Really just got cleared right before we got into game week, so that's the only reason you didn't see him.

Yeah, I think it's still a battle with those guys, whether that is Cam, Corey, Quinton; I think you could put Tykee and Jabree in there as well.

Jabree obviously just got here in the summer, so his situation is a little bit different. But that's going to be an ongoing battle. It sure was nice to see Cam, right? First time he touches the ball he makes a big time play. Very proud of him. There is a physical and mental and emotional aspect coming back from that type of injury, so it was pretty cool.

Back to my basement, we were all talking about him and the run he had and how excited everybody was for him, so I called him and told him that and had him on speaker phone, and everybody in my basement started yelling for him.

He was feeling really good about himself. I said relax, they're not going to induct you into the College Football Hall of Fame after one catch. Everybody kind of laughed. I know that felt really good for him and I was very proud and happy for him. But that battle will continue.

And, again, it's kind of like we talked about Gabe and other guys, it's about consistency. It's consistency in pass protecting and protecting our quarterbacks, knowing your assignments, correct footwork so it times up right with the quarterbacks and the run game; chasing your landmarks and be disciplined. It's not high school where you just stick your foot in the ground and run to daylight. You got to set up blocks and press the line of scrimmage.

So it's the consistency of all that.

And like all these guys, then when you get the ball in your hand you got to be responsible to make that one guy miss. There is a lot of guys that can get the yards that the scheme or the O-line provided. Now, what do you do in terms of breaking tackles and making people miss to put your stamp on the running game?

Q. I was going to ask about Cam. What you saw from Andrew and Keon with some extended action, where do you see them respectively trending at their positions?

JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, so Keon is one of the better athletes we have. Is super strong in the weight room; explosive and fast. There is a part with Keon, I just want him to let it rip. Like that shows up in games, shows up at practice at times where I think he's trying to be right rather than just going and playing.

But he's got all the ability in the world, and I think we're going to have that moment where it all clicks and everything comes together for him. And we need that. We need that from him.

We talk about Rapp, everybody talks about Luke Reynolds, and deservedly so, but probably wouldn't have saw Luke Reynolds last year if Rapp didn't get hurt, because probably we would've redshirted Luke. Here we are again with three really good tight ends. I think you could make the argument Khalil is the most complete tight end in the country in my opinion. And I'm biased; I get that.

Again, we got three really good tight ends that we think we can win with and be a problem for people. Rapp, you saw obviously the obvious plays that he made in the passing game, but he's a physical guy as well.

So we're excited about that room. Again, they've done a great job. Ty Howle has done a really good job, and obviously Andy loves the creativity we can have with that position, too, because that's the strength of real tight ends, right? They can lineup as full backs -- I just heard everybody going crazy, some of the fans.

They can line up as traditional tight ends in line, they can line up in the hip, and then they can line up as slot receivers, and our guys have the ability to do all those things, which become difficult on defenses to figure out how you're going to defend these guys.

If you're just a big wideout, then they play nickel and treat you as such.

Q. Curious, you touched on the three field goals in the red zone. Curious what that looks like this week? How do you attack that both in film and then on the practice field?

JAMES FRANKLIN: The field goals?

Q. Translating them into touchdowns.

JAMES FRANKLIN: You left that part out so I didn't know what you meant. Yeah, I think it's kind of what I referenced earlier, right? We can't not block the three technique on outside zone and get a tackle for loss. We got to be more consistent.

I talked a bunch to you guys about having seven offensive lineman that we view as starters, and all those guys have to play like that. They got to show that they warrant being on the field, and then we just got to be a little bit more consistent with everything we do.

Yeah, can you overcome long yardage situations? Yeah, but the best offenses don't even get to third down. They're picking up most of their first downs on first and second down.

So staying out of negative yardage plays is how we'll be more efficient and more effective, not only in the red zone but across the field.

It was just -- when you talk about sloppy football, you know, when you go back and kind of look at drops, you look at tackles for loss, or even zero yardage plays, we just had too many of those in the game to allow us to go where we wanted to go and play the way we wanted to play.

So that's what we're going to have to do to be more efficient when it comes to touchdowns and not kicking field goals.

Q. I don't think we got your public thoughts on this. The SEC going to a nine-game conference schedule. I think this has been overlooked. The tenth mandatory game against a Power 4, or Notre Dame, same thing. Any thoughts on that?

JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, as you know, these types of things I'm happy to talk about in the offseason. Really don't want to spend a lot of time talking about this on a game week when I'm not really focused on it or spending much time on it.

I can give you a response that I've given in the past that's consistent. I think I've said this for probably the last ten years, is everybody should play the same number of games. Everybody should have the same rules in terms of types of opponents that we play. Everybody should have conference championship games. Should be consistency.

Again, if you want to try to put together the best 12 teams for a playoff, it's hard to do that when you have a committee getting together and trying to compare eight conference games to nine conference games to conference championship games and one team loses a conference championship game and another team doesn't even have to play in one.

It's just problematic. When I say this sometimes people think I'm attacking certain conferences or schools. I'm not. I'm just -- I just think there should be consistency. If you're in Power 4 football, everybody should be playing a similar schedule so that the committee can get together at the end of the season and compare apples to apples as much as we possibly can.

The reality is we don't have a commissioner of college football, so that's where the commissioners of the Power 4 conferences, specifically the Big10 and the SEC, need to get together and come up with what's in the best interest of college football and the best interest of student-athletes and the fans.

And then you won't have to worry about all these different things when it comes to scheduling, because everybody is going to kind of have the same parameters. I think that is the right thing to do for all the parties that we just talked about.

Q. One of the things that were noticeable with your offense on Saturday was tempo, sometimes after big plays or trying to use that as a weapon. Wanted to get your assessment of how your offense played in those situations when they were trying to go quickly?

JAMES FRANKLIN: A couple things. It's always going to be a part of what we do because it's one of the weapons we want to use. Personnel is a weapon. Formations, most shifts, tempo are all weapons we want to try to use.

I would in that game you probably saw maybe a little bit more, and that was me getting on the headset and at halftime talking about using tempo, because they were smart. They were making sure that when they were on offense they were never snapping the ball with less than five seconds to go on the clock, they were trying to shorten the game as much as they possibly could.

I wanted to make sure we had a chance on offense to get as many reps, and we want to be good in tempo, too. So it was an opportunity to really work on both. I thought we did a good job with it except for obviously the bad snap down in the red zone that I think Drew still should have caught it. I think if you ask Drew, he would say that's on me. And if you asked Dawkins, Dawkins he would say that was on me. Then I think we probably walk in on the play we have called.

But overall good. We are probably a little bit heavy in it for the reason I stated.