Big Ten Media Days start Tuesday. The annual unofficial kickoff to a new season expands to three days in 2024 with the league expanding, as well. Penn State goes on Day 2. And now, we know what time head coach James Franklin and the three player representatives will speak with reporters. Franklin is the final of six coaches who will take the podium Wednesday for a speech and question and answer session that will be televised on Big Ten Network. He will be live at 12:45 p.m ET. UCLA coach DeShaun Foster kicks off Day 2 at 11:30 a.m. The head coaches from Iowa, Michigan State, USC, and Nebraska all go in 15 minute intervals prior to the leader of the Lions. It marks his 11th trip to conference media days.
After the podium session ends, roundtable-style interviews begin. Penn State will be represented by redshirt senior+ defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas (former Dvon Ellies ), senior safety Jaylen Reed , and senior tight end Tyler Warren . All three will be available at tables spread out around Lucas Oil Stadium from 1:15 p.m. until 1:45 p.m. ET. Franklin will then have a 45-minute chat with reporters from 3:30 until 4:15 p.m. ET. The quartet will also end up on the Big Ten Network set at some point during the afternoon. The Nittany Lion contingent then flies home that evening.
The countdown is on to Penn State preseason camp. It kicks off in the middle of next week and will stretch throughout August. Franklin and his staff are preparing to work with three new coordinators this fall but have plenty of familiar faces back both on the coaching staff and on the field when it comes to returning star players.
“When this job came open, I was coming up with my list of who I wanted to hire and why, and the data backing it up, and he was on a short list,” Franklin said on The Joel Klatt Show when asked about first-year offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. “It’s been great. He’s very creative. Does a ton of different things that can cause defenses stress. He does it all. If you just do one thing and you do it all the time, people can get used to that.”
On new defensive coordinator Tom Allen, Franklin added:
“I think you have to be careful to try and recreate lightning in the bottle, but we’ve played really good defense. To find someone who was a scheme fit, you’re kind of trying to find somebody that makes sense. Where we’re at, we don’t want to start over. Finding someone that was comfortable, and Tom comes in, but it’s during bowl practice. It ended up being really good. He’s very different than Manny. Which, I expect and appreciate that. He’s very relational as a leader. It’s been great.”
Penn State opens the 2024 season at West Virginia. Kickoff is at Noon ET in Morgantown. FOX will televise the contest on Aug. 31.
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