“I think everybody had a pretty good idea of who we were at tight end and running back.” But is it enough? When James Franklin hit Miami Gardens to take on Notre Dame, one big question in the air was, “Will Franklin choke a big game or not?” PSU did have a 3-point lead in the first half, but victory was out of grasp, and the Lions “poetically” fell short of 3 points and lost 24-27 to the Irish. Now the concerning part of this loss wasn’t the fact that James Franklin had lost another major game—the core revelation was the WR production woes. Imagine your team getting carried by the TE and RB while your receiver room is sitting back, eating peanuts—what on earth is happening in Pennsylvania State?

“I think they have to contribute. Preferably, obviously, to Penn State, one of them should be a star. I mean, it’s, uh, it’s hard to argue otherwise when you don’t have any returning production at the position and Tyler Warren, the most established receiving threat that you have, is gone,” Nate Bauer points out. Against the Irish, Tyler Warren, and Kaytron Allen were the only visible threats on the gridiron. The wide receiver corps recorded zero catches in that game, and this blows our minds. See, no one has it out for Franklin and his coaching. That man is solid. But this receiver plague has been a concern throughout the 2024 conquest.

Franklin’s offensive formula has been straightforward: a dominant run game focused on a do-it-all tight end. This allowed Warren to rack up over 1200 yards on receiving with 104 catches. No doubt this worked for the Lions as it pushed them to become the 4th best-scoring offense in the Big 10. But how long will this work out?

The moment you up the stakes, Franklin and Co. struggle. The best example of this has to be the OSU game. Yes, the Lions’ defense did God’s work, but the receiver room felt average at best with only 3 catches in a 20-12 game. Much like ND, where the elite defense easily managed to break past Andy Kotelnicki‘s offensive setup with relative ease.

You can easily sit back and say the Lions snub from the natty game was due to this lack of receiver depth, and many fans would agree with this take. Just because the TE and RB play calls have worked in some games doesn’t mean it’s going to work in every game? 

All of these concerns, paired with the recent spring practice game trends, point towards a very weird 2025 start for the Lions.

Penn State on Blue-White spring game

Listen, can we just collectively agree that the NIL and the portal have officially messed up CFB? With Huskers being the first to think of opting out of a traditional “televised” spring game, the football world is seemingly moving towards a more “hush-hush” path to keep their talents under wraps.

Like, who in their right mind would willingly invite poachers to their camp? Franklin is presumably following the same route. The Lions will focus on a set of 15 practices, and instead of modifying the entire program, they will focus on specific players.

“If we modify spring ball, then all these guys that are fighting for jobs and need to be evaluated and need to be developed, they’re losing it and they need it. So for me, what I think we’ll do is we’ll modify specific players based on age, experience, reps that they had last year, reps that they’ve had over their careers,” Franklin added.

Are they going to televise it, though? We still have to wait for confirmation for that. However, this new training schedule for the boys could work wonders and fix the WR woes. But who knows? Maybe James Franklin is still intoxicated by his TE success.