Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

James Franklin apologizes for handling of questions related to rape allegations against ex-PSU players

Paul Harvey

By Paul Harvey

Published:

James Franklin was short with members of the media at his mid-week press conference leading into Week 9. Now, the head coach at Penn State is apologizing for the way he handled himself.

The situation arose during Franklin’s post-practice press conference on Wednesday, a traditional in-season media appearance for the head coach. However, things took a turn when rape allegations against a pair of his former players were brought up.

The AP reported this week that Kaveion Keys and Jameial Lyons have both been accused of raping a 17-year-old Penn State student in early July. The two players were placed on an interim suspension over the summer for what PSU officials described as a “personal matter” but were both removed from Penn State’s official roster by early August.

Penn State acknowledged the charges against the two individuals in a statement but pointed to Keys and Lyons as individuals no longer enrolled with the university:

“We are aware of the serious charges against Mr. Keys and Mr. Lyons, who are no longer enrolled at the University,” the school’s statement read. “The safety of our community is our top priority, and Penn State takes any report of sexual assault or misconduct very seriously and investigates any and all reports.”

Franklin’s Wednesday press conference began with a question about the situation. He stepped to the side and deferred to a PSU spokesperson, who referenced the university’s statement.

When a second question inquired about the summer timeline and Franklin’s knowledge of the incident, he turned and walked away from the press conference. Franklin did eventually return to answer questions related to Wisconsin, Penn State’s Week 9 opponent.

Saturday night, the Nittany Lions beat the Badgers in Madison, and Franklin said at his postgame press conference that he did not do a good job with how he handled things on Wednesday:

“I want to apologize, I didn’t do a great job of handling Wednesday,” said Franklin. “Difficult, difficult situation and I’ve got to own that I did not do a good job of that. I understand you guys have a job to do, you have to ask those questions. I respect that. The university put out a statement, and the reality is there’s not a whole lot more I can say other than that statement… It’s challenging on everybody.

“At the end of the day, I did not do a good job of handling that situation and representing this program the right way. So I wanted to take a minute and apologize for that.

As for the players, Keys was a linebacker and Lyons was an edge prospect for Penn State in the 2023 recruiting class. They were arraigned this past Wednesday and have a hearing scheduled for this Wednesday.

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.