Penn State football’s spring session could look different

James Franklin covered a wide range of topics Tuesday in his first appearance with local media of the offseason, ranging from hiring Jim Knowles to Drew Allar’s confidence heading into 2025. After all, the offseason has been a busy one, with multiple coaching searches on top of typical responsibilities.

Asked about potential changes to the spring calendar because of the unusual length of Penn State’s 2024 season, Franklin seemed to confirm that the past month and a half have been a doozy. “Yeah, that’s fun,” he joked.

But he also confirmed things will look a bit different. Among his expected changes, the Blue-White Game could look different, veterans will be held back some in practice and there will be fewer winter workouts.

“We have to make modifications based on the calendar and how long we played into the season,” Franklin said. Penn State played an unprecedented 16 games in 2024, ending on Jan. 9. A Nittany Lions team had never played more than 14 games, while a season had never gone later than Jan. 3.

Franklin didn’t have specifics on how the spring game would differ, but the format has varied over the past few years from a conglomeration of drills to a more realistic game simulation in 2024.

The 2025 Blue-White Game is scheduled for April 26.

“We will still have the spring game, because I know what it means to this community and the hotels and the bars and the restaurants and the tailgating and all of it,” Franklin said. “We’re working on that now. We may do some more events that we’re still working through. I don’t want to speak on them too early.”

The Nittany Lions had two weeks off at the conclusion of the season, but they’ve since returned to State College and have started informal workouts. Organized winter workouts will start in the coming weeks, but instead of the usual 8-10, Franklin said they’ll only hold six.

Meanwhile, Penn State’s 14 spring practices leading into the Blue-White Game will have the same or similar format. Franklin will just emphasize rest for some of his veteran players, as was done for Tyler Warren and Olu Fashanu the past couple of years.

Knowles’ recent hire as defensive coordinator will make that a bit more challenging as a new system needs to be installed, but Franklin said there will be a collaborative effort between strength staff and coaching staff to make sure all are on the same page.

“It’s kind of like teaching; you’re trying to teach a class and you’ve got all this different ability within that class,” Franklin said. “You’ve got some people in the class that really need to be challenged at a very high level, and you’ve got some people that just showed up that are entry-level and you’re trying to reach all of them, which is challenging. I think it’s the same way with us.

“If we modify spring ball, then all these guys that are fighting for jobs, need to be evaluated and need to be developed, they’re losing it — and they need it.”