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James Franklin weighs in on Penn State’s lack of opt outs for bowl games during tenure
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James Franklin knows how to keep players loyal to him and the Penn State football program. Until last year, the Nittany Lions HC never had a player opt out of a bowl game appearance in his Penn State tenure.
It’s becoming more and more common for collegiate players to “opt out” of bowl games to avoid injury ahead of the NFL Draft. Players often opt out ahead of entering the transfer portal. In the years Franklin has been at the helm, there has only been one single opt out, and that was last year.
Franklin was quick to give credit for no opt-outs to the leadership of the captains of the team. The head coach stated that players shouldn’t opt out in his opinion.
“This is who we’ve been. In my 12 years as a head coach I’ve never had an opt-out until last year,” Franklin said, adding that the leadership of the captains has been important in this regard. “There’s really no reason to opt-out. We’ll work with our guys.”
"This is who we've been. In my 12 years as a head coach I've never had an opt-out until last year," Franklin said, adding that the leadership of the captains has been important in this regard. "There's really no reason to opt-out. … We'll work with our guys."
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) December 16, 2022
WR Parker Washington and DB Joey Porter Jr. recently announced that they’ll be opting out and preparing for the 2023 NFL Draft. Penn State and Utah meet in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2 at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN.