What James Franklin Said Before Penn State's Big Ten Opener Vs. Illinois

The Nittany Lions coach assessed his defense, his most improved position group and Illini quarterback Luke Altymer.

Penn State football James Franklin takes a question during a press conference at Beaver Stadium. / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

Penn State coach James Franklin held his weekly press conference Monday, and during it, some recruiting news became public. A player previously committed to the Nittany Lions' 2025 recruiting class flipped his decision to Colorado and coach Deion Sanders. The news didn't come up (and can't, per NCAA rules), but the timing reminded everyone that recruiting never sleeps.

With that, on to Illinois. Penn State hosts the unbeaten Illini in a prime-time duel between top-20 teams Saturday night at Beaver Stadium. Though it won't be the official Penn State White Out (which still is scheduled for Nov. 9 against Washington), Franklin has asked fans to bring "White Out energy" to the game. So you've been notified.

In the meantime, Franklin covered plenty of ground Monday, discussing the defense, pitching his receivers as the team's most improved position group and calling Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer one of college football's most improved players. Franklin had no updates regarding running back Cam Wallace and linebacker Dom DeLuca, who were injured against Kent State. Here's a look at what Franklin said during his weekly press conference.

On Illinois

[Coach Bret Bielema] has done a really nice job. Obviously he's got a ton of history as a head coach. He's been around some really good coaches and some really good programs, did a great job when he was at Wisconsin, is doing a great job now at Illinois. Had some time in the NFL as well. So it's going to be a heck of a game. Obviously their [overtime] road win on the road at Nebraska was a really big win for them, so they're coming in here confident, but they're also coming in here already going on the road and finding success in a tough environment. Nebraska is a storied program. They take a lot of pride in their stadium and their game day environment as well. So I think that would give Illinois a ton of confidence coming into our place.

... I think the biggest difference is the quarterback [Luke Altmyer]. I think he's got ten touchdown passes and zero interceptions. I think he's one of the more improved players right now in college football. So I think that's kind of the big story.

More on Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer

He's just doing a really good job of managing the game. He's throwing completions for a high percentage. He's protecting the football. He's getting the ball into the end zone. He's really doing a nice job, and they're doing a great job of mixing the run and the pass so he doesn't feel like he's got to carry the burden himself. But I just see him, he's really slightly improved kind of across the board. Part of that is his maturation and development. Part of that is the offensive coordinator doing a good job. Part of that may be the offensive coordinator knowing his quarterback better. So it's all of those things. I've been impressed with him. He's a fairly highly recruited guy out of high school. Again, everybody's path and journey is different. From a maturation process standpoint, he's really taken some nice steps.

RELATED: Penn State opens as big favorite over Illinois

On what more he'd like to see from Penn State's defense

I think the Bowling Green game had some people concerned, and then Bowling Green goes to Texas A&M and has a similar type of game [losing 26-20]. So I think Bowling Green is a really good MAC team. I think that was helpful for me as well as probably others. ... But I think whenever you hold anybody to 67 yards [Kent State's total offense], that's hard to do. It really is. So I thought we took some significant strides last week. It's something for us to build on, but obviously as we all know, when you get into Big Ten play, it's different, and Illinois has done a really good job. They're a physical bunch. The quarterback is playing at a high level. As you guys know, we've lost some significant players [on defense], and it's tested our depth.

So we're going to have to continue to develop depth. I'm thankful for the 7:30 game. I know that sounds silly, but with some of the young guys that we're playing, we need every minute we can in
preparation, and we're going to take advantage of every minute, in terms of walk-throughs and meetings. Last week was a nice step. Again, I thought we played really good in Week 1 [against West Virginia]. I thought as a team we didn't play as well in Week 2, but I have probably better perspective on that now than I did after the game. Then last week I thought we played well. So we're taking a step in the right direction, but we've got to get better this week as a defense, as an offense, as a team, on special teams, all of it. I think our guys looking at Sunday's practice, I think our guys are approaching it the right way.

On the progress of Penn State's wide receivers

I've been pleased with the step that we've taken. I'm kind of surprised that [the commuications staff] haven't kind of come to me and showed me a ton of articles about our wide receivers and the steps that they have taken and what [position coach] Marques [Hagans] and those guys have done, because there sure is a bunch of articles when they didn't play up to people's thoughts and standards. But overall, I've been pleased with what they've been able to do. We've got to continue to build it, build their confidence and build their production, but I think it's hard to argue that they may be the most improved position on the team right now.

Let's be honest with it, we needed that to happen, so that's fair. I'm not saying some of the things that were written and said in the past were not fair, but again just like his coaches, if we're going to be critical, then they should be praised when they're doing some really good things, which I think they are.

On creating depth at linebacker

Ta'Mere [Robinson] is a guy that we've been excited about really since we recruited him. He had some bumps and bruises where he lost some time [in Week 2], which would have been really valuable for him and for us. I think that's going to be really important for us, continue to move forward ashis durability and his ability to get in the game and play and play well. [Former safety] Dakaari Nelson was a move we weren't necessarily sure how that was going to go. There's a big difference between playing defensive back and playing linebacker. Obviously people do some things to kind of get you in the box, whether that is the position we're trying to play you at or not, and Dakaari has been a really pleasant surprise. He's playing really well on special teams right now. I think you guys saw he was the special teams player of the week and is really growing into the linebacker position. So that's been a real positive for us.

Obviously we're going to have to continue to develop depth there. I thought [freshman Anthony] Speca came in and did some nice things for us this week in terms of running the defense and playing with confidence, and we're going to have to build on that. Tyler Elsdon continues to be a guy that has played a ton of football around here and we have a lot of confidence in. [Tony] Rojas continues to develop into a special player. Then obviously we have some flexibility with Abdul [Carter] as well. There's some answers there, but we need to continue to develop guys and continue to develop depth.

On defensive tackle Zane Durant

Zane Durant, I think, has been as impactful on [preessuring] the quarterback as anybody. If you're just strictly looking at a stat sheet, it wouldn't tell you that. But like I try to talk to our guys all the time, ... real football people, they know that. The NFL scouts know that. Our coaching staff know it. Our players know that. Our media that covers us closely knows that. I'm not saying the stats don't matter because the stats tell a story, but, again, I think Zane Durant is a really good example. I think all you guys who have watched our game closely, ... it tells a different story.

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