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James Franklin talks Early Signing Period, staff changes and preparing for Cotton Bowl

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

There’s always a lot going on in college football around this time of year. Even though there aren’t games being played every weekend any longer, players and coaches still have quite a bit on their plates through December.

Students are finishing up finals, coaching staffs are finalizing recruiting classes and everyone is preparing for a bowl game at Penn State this season. On Dec. 28, the Nittany Lions travel to Texas to take on Memphis in the Cotton Bowl Classic.

Penn State is coming off a 10-2 season, searching for that 11th win. Memphis was the highest-ranked Group of Five team, earning a bid in a New Year’s Six Bowl and hoping to make a statement.

The Tigers are 12-1.

Before the Nittany Lions head to the Lone Star State to get ready for the Cotton Bowl, head coach James Franklin talked about the hectic schedule that both coaches and players are going through at this point in the season. He talked about the turnover on his staff, finishing up recruiting, looking for a new offensive coordinator to replace Ricky Rahne (new head coach at Old Dominion) and preparing for a really good Memphis team.

Below is Franklin’s interview, talking about how things have gone the last month in State College.

Memphis and Penn State will kick things off at the Cotton Bowl Classic at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 28. The game will air on ESPN and the Nittany Lions are currently favored by a touchdown.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB