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James Franklin explains how Penn State will handle defensive coaching duties during Peach Bowl

Grant Bricker

By Grant Bricker

Published:

James Franklin will be without Manny Diaz on the sidelines for the 1st time this season once the Peach Bowl comes around. The DC for the Nittany Lions the past 2 seasons, Diaz has left the program to take the head coaching job at Duke.

On how Penn State is going to be handling the defensive coordinator role during the game, Franklin said that it’s going to be internal. It will be similar to how the team has handled the offense following the firing of offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich.

Since Yurcich’s firing, the team has utilized Ja’Juan Seider and Ty Howle to handle the interim OC duties. The team will try to balance that while looking for the next DC candidate.

“We will handle it internally very similarly to how we’ve handled it on offense the last few games of the season,” said Franklin. “Trying to balance that while also interviewing and moving forward with our DC decision, whether it’s an internal candidate or external.”

Franklin noted that he knew there would be challenges after leadership changes and that DC is an attractive position at Penn State. Franklin pointed to how the last 3 DC’s have all had top-10 defenses with the Nittany Lions.

“I think there’s challenges, whenever you’re going to make changes in leadership,” Franklin said. “Obviously, this is an attractive position. Not just based on what Manny has done, but I’ve had three defensive coordinators…and they’ve all had top-10 defense consistently.”

The Nittany Lions face Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30. Kickoff will be at noon ET on ESPN/ESPN+.

Grant Bricker

Grant Bricker covers the B1G for Saturday Tradition. His previous stops include the Williamson Homepage and Nashville Post.