“I wish him and his family nothing but the best in the future”. Franklin hadn’t hinted at any staff changes in the past few weeks as Penn State has collapsed in the Big Ten, but clearly felt as though a change was needed, and quick.
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Franklin will start a national search immediately for Donovan’s replacement.
“Fenway63” summed it up nicely, saying “Penn State just doesn’t have the horses to run with the thoroughbreds”. Brown did not record a single tackle, while the unit, which had led the nation with over 10 tackles for loss per game prior (97 total), did not get any push on Michigan State’s offensive line and barely hassled quarterback Connor Cook.
When the Lions opened the year with a miserable performance in a loss to Temple, Franklin said he would become more involved in overseeing the offense though he said he had not been calling any specific plays during the season.
The tight ends, who flourished as pass-catching weapons under Franklin’s predecessor Bill O’Brien, floundered the last two years used primarily as blockers, and Donovan was their position coach. “You trust the hard work that you put in (during) practice and throughout the season”. “I try to worry about, week to week, who we’re playing”.
The running back also earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors from BTN.com, announced on Sunday night.
Penn State is now ranked No. 108 out of 127 teams in total offense. The Nittany Lions look to snap a two-game losing streak when they host in-state foe Bucknell in the 98th meeting of a series that has featured several close games lately.
“I’m not pleased with that whatsoever”, Franklin said.
“I honestly don’t know, I don’t know how many tackles we missed”, he said. “That’s what we’re focused on each and every week, to do what we’ve got to do to win each game”. Penn State’s offensive blocking has been partly responsible for Hackenberg absorbing 83 sacks over the past two seasons. But good things are coming.
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Following Saturday’s game, Franklin said that staff evaluations would occur before the bowl game but gave no indication that he meant to move so quickly. We’ve shown it in flashes but whenever we’ve played the top-tier teams in this conference and in this country we just haven’t been able to get it done yet. “They made some tough shots, but we’ve got to do a better job of making them uncomfortable”.
