James Franklin has been giving second-team players on the roster more playing time this season. He talked about why he has been doing that in a recent interview.

Franklin stated that he has been trying to create more depth on his team by doing so. He also stated that one of the motivations for this came from previous experiences.

Penn State fans have been wanting to see players like Drew Allar get playing time this season. Allar has 163 yards passing with 2 touchdowns in the games he’s played in so far.

“Most importantly, we’re getting the guys in the game a little bit earlier than we have in the past,” said Franklin. “That’s putting a little more priority on creating depth. That’s based on previous experiences.”

Last season, the team struggled with Sean Clifford missing some time due to injury. That was only one area of the team that dealt with injuries, and Franklin wants to keep that from happening in the future.

“Last year, we were playing some really good football and had some injuries at key positions,” said Franklin. “We wanted to make sure that we have more depth this year.”

Penn State faces Northwestern Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.