Penn State head coach James Franklin couldn’t fathom the question he received during a press conference Tuesday.
A reporter asked Franklin whether or not he and his coaching staff ever consider advising sophomore quarterback Drew Allar to throw a deep pass no matter the coverage.
Franklin couldn’t believe what he heard.
“I don’t really understand what you’re saying, because we would never … like my skin is curling when you say just drop back and chuck it deep no matter what,” Franklin said. “I don’t even know what you’re saying. It’s like you’re speaking from Mars.”
The reporter attempted to provide further context to the question, framing it as a way to let a receiver make a play like Penn State did in the past with its top wideouts.
Franklin still wasn’t having it.
“No matter what?” Franklin said. “It’s like you’re speaking Japanese. We have never done that, just throw the ball up and maybe he’ll be open and maybe he’ll catch it.”
Franklin referred back to his time as an offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach to explain why he disagreed with that offensive philosophy.
“You’re making me uncomfortable,” Franklin said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. So, yeah, we would not do that. We would never do that.
“We’ve never thought about doing that — as a head coach, as an offensive coordinator, as a receivers coach. When I coached the receivers, I didn’t want them to do that. So, no. No. Strong no.”
Franklin’s clear distaste toward the question led to an uncomfortable end to the press conference.
“I’m hoping we can cut this out so this doesn’t even like get out into the universe,” Franklin said.
Allar has has a 64.4 completion percentage this season and averages 218.4 yards per game. He has thrown nine touchdown passes with zero interceptions.
The question seemingly referred to how Allar is averaging just 10.7 yards per completion. For comparison, USC’s Caleb Williams averages 15.3 yards per completion.
Allar ranks 96th in that statistic, per the NCAA.
Even without the use of random deep balls to covered receivers, Penn State is 5-0 and ranked No. 6 in the nation heading into Saturday’s game against UMass.
The Nittany Lions’ average margin of victory is 31 points, and they have allowed just 48 points this season.
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