James Franklin welcomes the expectations for the Penn State football team this year and embraces them.
A poll of writers and broadcasters attending this week’s Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas picked the Nittany Lions to win the conference championship.
They’re ranked in the top five nationally by every preseason magazine. If The Associated Press and USA Today preseason polls follow suit in August, it will be the first time since 1999 they’ve been ranked as high entering a season.
Hopes are high after Penn State came within a whisker of reaching the College Football Playoff title game last season and several top players decided to return, including quarterback Drew Allar and running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
On top of that, Franklin hired defensive whiz Jim Knowles away from national champion Ohio State and made him the highest-paid coordinator in the country.
“This is the best combined personnel that we’ve had at Penn State,” Franklin said Wednesday in Las Vegas. “When I talk about personnel, I’m talking about players and staff from a depth, talent and experience standpoint. We’re very excited about that.”
This is Franklin’s best team on paper in his 12 seasons in State College. It might be the best that the Lions have had since their unbeaten 1994 team.
They have a potential top-10 draft pick at quarterback in Allar; the best running back duo in the country in Singleton and Allen; strong offensive and defensive lines; and one of the best secondaries in the country.
“I thought one of those guys would declare for the NFL and the other one would come back,” Franklin said. “They both decided to come back. We have two great running backs. It’s amazing to me that Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen have a chance to be the all-time leading rushers, 1-2, in Penn State…
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Publish date : 2025-07-24 03:47:00
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