Penn State notes: James Franklin makes thinly veiled recruiting pitch to Southern Lehigh star

Penn State football coach James Franklin used a question Monday about tight ends coach Ty Howle to make a thinly veiled recruiting pitch for Southern Lehigh senior Andrew Olesh.

Olesh is a four-star tight end prospect who committed to Michigan in July. He and his family attended the Nittany Lions’ 20-13 loss to Ohio State earlier this month at Beaver Stadium.

“If you’re a great tight end in the country, and specifically in the state of Pennsylvania, I don’t know how you couldn’t come here,” Franklin said during his weekly press conference. “There’s just too much history, there’s too much data and there are too many things saying you don’t need to go anywhere else.

“You can stay at home and get everything you want in terms of your college career and setting you up for your future.”

The 6-5, 215-pound Olesh caught 53 passes for 973 yards and 10 touchdowns last year as a junior. He’s rated the No. 3 tight end in the 2025 recruiting class. This year he’s caught 58 passes for 857 yards and seven touchdowns.

Penn State has four tight ends playing in the NFL: Mike Gesicki (Cincinnati), Pat Freiermuth (Pittsburgh), Brenton Strange (Jacksonville) and Theo Johnson (New York Giants).

Lions senior Tyler Warren is the favorite to win the John Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end.

Howle has guided Strange, Johnson and Warren.

“There’s no program in the country that is doing what we’re doing with tight ends now and really over the last 10 years,” Franklin said. “Ty Howle has come into that position as a Penn State letterman and I think has taken it to a whole other level.”

Warren recognized: Warren was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in Penn State’s 49-10 victory at Purdue.

Warren caught eight passes for 127 yards and one touchdown and carried three times…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/penn-state-notes-james-franklin-044600646.html

Author : Reading Eagle, Pa.

Publish date : 2024-11-19 04:46:00

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