"I’ve seen the growth of this program. I have a tremendous amount of pride, as a freshman seeing what this program was inside and out. … It’s surreal. But this is what you want to see when you’re leaving. Your team, your university, you want to see that growth. You want to be able to look back and say, ‘I was a part of that.’ Building and expanding it. I’ve seen a lot of people come, a lot of people go. Thank God Franklin wasn’t one of them. He’s done a phenomenal job here. " 

When asked who has meant the most to him at the program.

"I would say Coach Franklin. I look up to him as a leader. Early on, before I was even named a captain, he talked to me and identified me as a leader, which helped me grow into that role. He believed in me to lead guys in my class. I remember talking to him as a freshman, it was me and Jason. And I can’t remember what happened with our class, but he called us in to his office, and he said, ‘You guys are leaders of this freshman class. You’re guys we look at as positive role models.’ He was already priming me sort of to grow up into this leadership role."

Read the rest of the interview over at Centre Daily Times.

I am on record of saying that James Franklin has some work to do to take this team to the next level. Game management, questionable playcalling, and even questionable game plans make you scratch your heads sometimes.   It is obvious though that the majority of players love playing for him and people who want him fired will never be happy with any coach not named Nick Saban.  

Is James Franklin the perfect coach? Probably not but he is as hard of a worker as any coach in the business and I believe if PSU fans show a little patience that we will be rewarded with a truly special season sooner than later and perhaps as early as next year.