Early enrollee numbers could climb even higher

NEW YORK - James Franklin’s reasoning for bringing in early enrollees to the Penn State football program has many facets, but really, it boils down to this:

“The more time you can get in the summer to work through some of those adjustments, you get more comfortable, it's really valuable,” he said.

Addressing reporters Tuesday afternoon at the New Yorker Hotel in midtown Manhattan, the Nittany Lion head football coach offered some insight to the processes of enrolling early.

With six Class of 2018 prospects arriving in January, plus another four set to enroll this upcoming weekend, the Nittany Lions’ 23-man group of incoming players will be a three-wave event, wrapping up with the remaining 13 in late-June.

And to Franklin, that’s a movement that is just getting started.

“I think our mid-semester numbers are going to grow and I think that's a trend that's going to continue to get bigger and bigger,” said Franklin. “I see a lot of programs across the country are around the 10 number. I could see us getting to 10 guys coming in at mid-semester and then I could see the number of guys that come in summer one will grow as well because guys want to give themselves the best opportunity to get on campus and compete as soon as they possibly can, and they want to get adjusted academically and get ahead. So there is tremendous value in it.”

According to Franklin, the six early enrollees (Nick Tarburton, Trent Gordon, Isaiah Humphries, Micah Parsons, Zack Kuntz and Jesse Luketa) handled their adjustment to the complete collegiate experience - academically, socially and athletically - “probably better than I anticipated them to handle it.” And the next wave including Will Levis, Judge Culpepper, PJ Mustipher and Pat Freiermuth, having already completed their necessary academic work to graduate at their respective high schools, will also get a head start on the Penn State football process.

The first time the program has enrolled new players for the first of Penn State’s two summer academic sessions, Franklin said the endeavor made sense. Having attempted to enroll in January unsuccessfully, those players pitched the idea of getting a six-week head start on their other classmates.

“Some of them were able to do it because school was out and some of them were able to do it because they talked to their high schools and were strong enough students that the high schools worked with them. They're going to get another six weeks of training on our campus,” said Franklin. “To be honest with you, it's very similar to how it was when I was at the previous institution because the southern schools get out a lot earlier. So we actually got the whole freshman class on our campus, probably about a month earlier than we do at Penn State typically.

“It’s going to allow these guys to get six more weeks of training and another class that the rest of the freshman class won't be able to do. When the Pa. schools get out, when the Jersey schools and Connecticut schools typically get out, it makes it challenging, but a lot of our guys started working on it earlier enough that they were able to get it done, and I think obviously there's significant value in it because it's a lot to get adjusted to in a short period of time.”