James Franklin Talks Big Ten Decision, Potential Return To Play On ESPN’s College GameDay

Penn State football head coach James Franklin appeared on College GameDay Saturday morning to discuss the Big Ten’s decision to cancel the 2020 College Football season and a potential return to play.
Ohio State football head coach Ryan Day, Stanford head coach David Shaw, and Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham also visited the show.
The Penn State football coach began by offering insight into what answers he would like to get from the Big Ten.
“I think the biggest thing is to be able to communicate with our players, and not just our players, but our parents,” Franklin said. “Our players want to play. Their parents want to play. I think that’s because specifically at Penn State, our medical people have done such an unbelievable job of making our players and parents feel comfortable, and the Big Ten as well.”
Franklin continued, explaining that he wants the opportunity to compete while keeping everybody safe and healthy.
ESPN’s Rece Davis also asked Franklin what it would take for him to be accepting of the decision to not play football this fall.
“I’ve never really communicated ever that I have an issue with the decision,” Franklin said. “We just want to make sure we are informed of why and how, and can get up in front of our players and talk to our parents and explain how we got here and why. I’ve never had an issue with the decision we made because, in a lot of ways, the Big Ten should get credit for the decision that they made.”
Franklin has been frustrated with the Big Ten since the conference announced its decision to postpone fall sports on August 11, especially with the timing and lack of communication.
Rumors have circulated about a mid-October start for the Big Ten, but nothing has been confirmed. The Nittany Lions are currently permitted to hold 12 hours of workouts per week.
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