James Franklin talks Penn State football's NIL stance and recruiting impact

Speaking at Big Ten media days at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Penn State Nittany Lions football coach James Franklin gave his first public comments about new legislation permitting college athletes to earn compensation for their names, images and likenesses.

Since the legislation came into effect in Pennsylvania on July 1, much of the public conversation has related to its impact on the recruiting trail. Franklin took a different approach with his comments on Thursday afternoon.

"I don't really look at it as something to use in recruiting," Franklin said. "I don't really look at it as something for Penn State in the coming years. I look at it mainly as: How do we make sure we're doing everything we possibly can to support the student-athletes?"

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Franklin explained that, in his view, the new NIL policies simply allow student-athletes to be eligible for the same compensation as typical students, although he did highlight the difference in scale between the average student and a Penn State football player, who has the backing of Penn State's large fan and alumni base.

Star Penn State wideout Jahan Dotson expressed a similar thought recently when speaking at an event inside Beaver Stadium alongside various Pennsylvania state politicians.

"We all know the brand recognition that comes with saying 'I go to Penn State,'" Dotson continued. "That gives student-athletes a unique chance to succeed not only in athletics, but in academics as well, which is why this NIL bill is such a great opportunity that has been presented to us."

Franklin explained that he plans to embrace NIL and its implications within his program, but noted that his focus lies narrowly on maximizing the benefits for his student-athletes.

He praised his players for their "mature approach" to the new phenomenon to this point, as several Nittany Lions — including quarterback Sean Clifford — have made their NIL opportunities public.

"Obviously in the summer and the spring we want to be aggressive about this," Franklin said, "but it is going to be something that we're all going to have to manage in the season so that it doesn't distract from what we're trying to do, which is get a great education and play great college football."

As expected by many, NIL was a hot topic among the handful of Big Ten coaches who addressed the media in the late morning and early afternoon on Thursday.

Minnesota's PJ Fleck and Nebraska's Scott Frost were the coaches who chose to talk through the various circumstances that they believe allow their programs to help student-athletes get the most out of their NIL possibilities.

Fleck, in particular, was enthusiastic about the opportunities available to Gopher players in Minneapolis.

"I'm fired up about name, image and likeness," Fleck said. "I think it's tremendous. Our location, the 3.5 milion people we have in the Twin Cities, the 18 Fortune 500 companies — this isn't a small college town. We have businesses galore, and now having the ability for our players to benefit off their name with all these companies — we can't be a part of organizing that — but they have all these resources at their disposal, at their fingertips."

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