Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin is working with a new offensive coordinator in Andy Kotelnicki this offseason after deciding to make a change in that role.
Now, with some time working with Kotelnicki, Franklin praised him for the job he’s done as the offensive coordinator to this point. On top of that, he shared the type of impact he’s going to have on the offense.
“First of all, he’s done a great job,” James Franklin said. “Done a great job with the staff. Done a great job with the players, and scheme, and the morale. In my mind, you guys won’t see it this way, but in my mind, we have not changed a whole lot in terms of the things that we’ve done here in the past. So, what I mean is, maybe some aspects of what you saw when we first got here. Maybe some aspects you saw with Joe Moorhead, maybe some aspects you saw with Coach [Mike] Yurcich, and so on and so forth.”
One of the great strengths of Penn State is the running back room, led by Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. That’s a group that Franklin believes is going to benefit by having a multiple offense that defenses need to be prepared for in multiple ways.
“But I think we’re back to doing all of those things again, which I think are going to make us difficult to defend when you’re using multiple personnel groups, multiple sets, multiple tempos,” Franklin said.
“And I think the running backs have a chance to reap the rewards of that in a lot of different ways, in terms of different ways to get the ball into their hands. Run game, pass game, screen game, whatever that may be.”
One of the major reasons why Penn State made a change at offensive coordinator was because the team lacked explosive plays in recent seasons. That’s something Franklin now expects to change.
“And then also, obviously, one of the biggest issues we had last year was explosive plays,” Franklin said. “I think the most explosive we were were in the last two games. So, the more we can be explosive, specifically in the passing game, I think will also create opportunities for us to be more explosive in the running game. And also just in terms of running back touches.”
Ultimately, Penn State has plenty of talented players on offense. The biggest thing is going to be finding a way to get those athletes the ball.
“The other one that I’m adamant about that was challenging and problematic the last couple of years, was the emphasis of getting the ball into your best players’ hands,” Franklin said. “You got to be able to do that as a play caller and that was a big part of this interview process with Andy.”
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