James Franklin is still striving for ‘consistency’ as Penn State prepares for Florida International

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — James Franklin delivered an impassioned rant following Saturday’s 46-11 win over Nevada after a referee handed the Nittany Lions a delay-of-game penalty he disagreed with.

Penn State won the game by 35 points, but Franklin, who’s in his 12th season as head coach in Happy Valley, wasn’t satisfied with some areas of play, including that call. That intensity carried into his weekly Monday morning news conference, where Franklin detailed a few errors his squad needs to clean up entering Week 2 at home against Florida International (noon, Big Ten Network).

“We’ve got to be more consistent in everything we do,” Franklin said. “When you talk about sloppy football, when you go back and you look at drops, you look at tackles for loss, or even zero-yardage plays, we just had too many of those in the game to allow us to go where we want to go and play the way we want to play.”

Franklin expressed his frustration when discussing minor hiccups following Saturday’s victory, but spoke with a more jovial tone Monday when praising several impact players, including backup quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer. The redshirt freshman entered the game in the fourth quarter and completed seven of his nine pass attempts, capping his standout performance with a 6-yard rushing touchdown.

Grunkemeyer beat out Jaxon Smolik for the backup QB job, and despite some shaky moments throughout camp, he earned high praise from his head coach.

» READ MORE: No. 2 Penn State dominated Nevada in its season-opener. This is what stood out

“I was very impressed with Grunk and his performance,” Franklin said. “I actually thought he played in the game better than he’s practiced at times, in terms of he wasn’t holding on to the ball, he was decisive. When he did get pressure, he was able to step up in the pocket and find outlets to quickly get the ball out of his hand.”

As for Franklin’s QB1 Drew Allar, his day against Nevada — 22 of his 26 pass attempts for 217 yards and a touchdown — marked another impressive display of accuracy in what’s become expected.

“I thought Drew played how I would expect him to play,” Franklin said. “He was consistent, made some big-time throws. He made a couple outbreaking throws that very few college players and a handful of NFL quarterbacks can make. He extended plays with his feet … Played very clean.”

Franklin also shed light on another positional battle, naming Gabe Nwosu the team’s starting punter. The redshirt senior beat out Riley Thompson, Penn State’s starter last season, after a standout showing in camp.

Nwosu, who’s known for his strong leg, pushed Ryan Barker in the starting kicker competition as well and even drilled a 62-yard field goal in practice that would have been good from 66 yards, Franklin said.

“Gabe is special. He’s the closest thing to Jordan Stout that we’ve had here,” Franklin said. “His A-ball may be as good as we’ve ever had here, but like a lot of these guys, he just wasn’t consistent enough. And he just had a phenomenal camp, not only in kickoff and punting, but also in field goals.”

» READ MORE: A Pennsylvania home remodeler’s gift helps Penn State remodel Beaver Stadium and its name

Franklin provided an update on injured defensive end Zuriah Fisher, who missed the season opener. Fisher hasn’t played since 2023 after missing all of the 2024 campaign with an injury, but his chances at a return this Saturday are trending upward.

“Zuriah was excited and wanted to play, and we kind of held him just because at that point, he hadn’t practiced enough and [we] didn’t think that was the right thing to do for him or us,” Franklin said. “I think that explains how close he is to being back, and that’ll be significant getting him back.”

The Nittany Lions will work on those issues during practice in preparation for Saturday’s annual THON game, which honors Four Diamonds families from Penn State Health Children’s Hospital and aims to raise money and awareness for the fight against childhood cancer. Franklin opened his news conference by sharing what THON means to him and his program.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the Four Diamonds families to Happy Valley this weekend,” Franklin said. “THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world and continues to enhance lives of children and families impacted by childhood cancer. [It’s] something passionate in our program.”

» READ MORE: Follow the Inquirer's complete coverage of Penn State football right here!