Three takeaways from Penn State football coach James Franklin's presser

Penn State Nittany Lions football head coach James Franklin spoke to the media on Wednesday night after Penn State's practice inside Holuba Hall.

Here's what the Penn State football head coach had to say as his Nittany Lions prepare to take on Villanova on Saturday.

RELATED: Penn State football mailbag: Scheduling, run game struggles and more

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA approved a measure granting all athletes on college rosters during the 2020 season an extra year of eligibility.

On Wednesday, Franklin gave an indication as to how the Nittany Lions will treat that extra year in the future.

"We're not really approaching that COVID year at all," Franklin said. "We're kind of looking at guys as they were, and then we'll deal with that down the road when the time comes knowing that there's some flexibility there."

It will not, Franklin said, impact Penn State football's approach to redshirting players this season, which leads us nicely into our next topic.

As Franklin put it, a road game at Wisconsin might not be best environment to test the mettle of a talented freshman to see if he should be redshirted for the season.

That game, combined with a difficult test against Auburn sandwiched around a matchup with a respectable Ball State team, has made the redshirting process different for Franklin and his staff this season.

"[Normally] you get to play a lot of those guys typically early on in out of conference games, and kind of got to figure out who people are, and then adjust from there, but I don't know if on the road at Wisconsin is the place to figure that out," he said. "So yeah, I think it's been impacted by our schedule, I think that's a fair thing to say."

Every redshirt situation is different, Franklin said. It's clear that some freshman, like CB Kalen King, are more than capable of playing right away.

With others, the path might be a bit more blurry, and potentially altered by things like injuries.

"It's kind of fluid," Franklin said.

The impact of the transfer portal on Penn State's roster was clear for all to see on Saturday.

Derrick Tangelo recovered a fumble and made a potentially game-saving tackle in the fourth quarter. Arnold Ebiketie was arguably Penn State's most dangerous pass rusher. John Lovett provided a key spark for the Nittany Lions off the bench.

Still, Franklin expressed some reservations about the transfer portal and its impact on college football.

"Even though we have had success with the portal, I wouldn't say I'm necessarily a huge fan and believer in it," Franklin said. "I guess there's a time and place for everything. I guess we probably view it, like a lot of people do, almost like junior college players like the situation we have with Lackawanna, where you're trying to maybe fill a void that you have, especially in the upper class, while you're waiting for a younger guy to develop and grow and mature. I wouldn't say we're ever going to be a huge junior college or transfer portal team."

Still, he recognizes the impact that it can have as a short term stop-gap.

"It's really to fill immediate needs," he said. "Maybe you have an injury, maybe you have a guy that maybe just needs another year of development, and it makes more sense for him to be in a complimentary role for a year then be the starter of the next year. It helps with that, and getting immediate impact guys from a veteran and maturity standpoint."

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