During his time in College Football, Saquon Barkley became one of the standout players for the Penn State Nittany Lions. His jump to the NFL was, in part, thanks to the preparation he received under the guidance of James Franklin, who, after the Philadelphia Eagles secured another Super Bowl title, expressed his happiness for the achievement of his former players.
Franklin has been the head coach of Penn State since 2014, achieving his greatest success in 2016 by winning the Big Ten Championship. Meanwhile, Barkley spent two years of his college career at Pennsylvania before being selected by the New York Giants in the 2018 NFL Draft.
After losing the Orange Bowl to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the head coach had not spoken to the press until yesterday, when he began his conference by congratulating his former players for the great achievement with the Philadelphia Eagles.
“It is the Super Bowl and Saquon’s success, Jahan’s success, and Tariq Castro-Fields. It’s really cool to be a part of this journey with these guys. All the way back from when we recruited them. So, to see them have that type of success on that stage is really cool. Congratulations to those guys.”
Saquon Barkley #26 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates with head coach James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions after catching a 42 yard touchdown pass in the second half against the Michigan Wolverines on October 21, 2017 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.
Throughout its history, Penn State has produced great talent that currently shines in the NFL. Saquon Barkley may be one of the most significant representatives, and he has now won his first Super Bowl title in his career.
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Franklin spoke about the arrival of Knowles
With their focus on the upcoming NCAAF season and the goal of improving on last year’s results, the Nittany Lions are not only aiming to assemble the best possible roster but have also strengthened Franklin’s staff with the addition of Jim Knowles.
Regarding his arrival, Franklin made it clear to the press how challenging it was for Jim Knowles to transition from Ohio State Buckeyes to Penn State, and how difficult it was to find the ideal candidate for this position.
“What I think helped with this is, we spoke a couple years back when the [defensive coordinator] position was open [before Penn State hired Manny Diaz], so that helped. We already had a pretty good familiarity with each other,” the HC said. “We were able to start conversations after the national championship game, obviously, and it went quickly.”
“[We] had been talking to a ton of other guys, vetting and going through the process,” Franklin also added. “It’s kind of a twisting and a winding deal. There’s guys that you think you may be able to get and you can’t. We looked at NFL guys, we looked at college guys, kind of kept narrowing the list down. Hadn’t made any offers, and then this became a possibility. And then getting to figure out what both sides’ interest level [was] took a little bit of time, and then are you actually going to be able to get it done?”
