Penn State coach James Franklin, staff keeping tabs on pending decisions

By every indication, the 2021 season was set to be P.J. Mustipher’s final campaign as a Nittany Lion.

A fourth-year senior who had played extensively as a true freshman in 2018, earned his first start as a sophomore in ’19, and started all nine games in Penn State’s ’20 campaign, Mustipher’s path to the NFL was all but assured at the year’s end. A Rotary Lombardi Award semifinalist for his performance through the first six weeks of the season, the defensive tackle was credited with 21 tackles, 3.0 TFL, a sack, and maybe most important a successful stop rate of 100 percent, according to PFF.

A season-ending injury sustained early in the Nittany Lions’ loss could change all that, though.

Relegated to the sidelines for the rest of the year, Mustipher’s injury unspecified but presumed to be an issue with his left knee, a door has opened to a possible return for a fifth year with the Nittany Lions thanks to the NCAA’s bonus year of eligibility instituted for all participants of the COVID-19 impacted 2020 season.

“I think P.J. is a really good example,” Franklin said at his weekly press conference. “We did have that meeting last week, but I'm hoping to sit down with him again one-on-one, obviously the scenario has changed a little bit, and see where he and his parents are at.

“At the end of the day, once decisions are made, then we're going to support him every way we possibly can.”

As Franklin revealed Tuesday, though Mustipher’s circumstances are unique in that the injury could change the course of his decisions for next year, his is not the only choice Penn State’s coaching staff is following.

Fresh off a program bye weekend in which the Nittany Lions collectively tackled a variety of tasks related and unrelated to the 2021 season, the Penn State staff also spent time compiling an updated set of evaluations and expectations for other personnel with decisions to make.

Keeping tabs on feedback for players who are doing well and those that still need work, Franklin added that the input of scouts and GMs help to provide a valuable assessment of what the Nittany Lions’ personnel options might be in their junior and senior years.

“The feedback is important, but the real decisions and conversations are going to happen probably towards the end of the season,” Franklin said, turning his attention to the underlying reality that agent-player communication is now permissible under the rules of both NCAA and NFL football. “The agents can talk to them their freshman year, (and) if we're not talking to them from one perspective and they're only hearing it from an agent's perspective, then I think that can lead to some bad decisions.

“I want our players to have every perspective to think about so they can make the best decisions for them and their families.”

Complicating matters, the available bonus season of eligibility opens the door to a potential return for true seniors and fifth-year seniors, along with the juniors and redshirt juniors who could opt to pursue a professional career following the season.

Constantly balancing the cornucopia of factors that go into these decisions, Franklin finished by painting the picture of a Penn State coaching staff preferring to stay abreast of where its personnel stands in the eyes of stakeholders at the next level.

Having experienced the benefit of successful early departures for the NFL as well as decisions that have been tinged with regret in hindsight, it’s an open doorway of communication of which Franklin and the Nittany Lions are eager to stay atop.

“It’s always challenging because most coaches and people don't want to have those types of conversations during a season because you want to stay laser-focused on the task at hand,” he said. “Once again, if you're not talking to them and other people are, then you're probably naive.”

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