It’s been one week since fall camp started for Penn State football and a few young players have already caught James Franklin’s eye.

Franklin met with the local media after practice Thursday evening and spoke glowingly about two freshmen: former three-star wide receiver Tyseer Denmark and former four-star offensive lineman Cooper Cousins.

Cousins and Denmark, both Pennsylvania natives, were in Penn State’s recruiting class of 2024 but started their collegiate careers at different times.

Cousins arrived on campus in January as an early enrollee, nearly two years after he announced his commitment to the Nittany Lions, and had the benefit of participating in spring practices and playing in the Blue-White Game. Denmark, on the other hand, waited to join the blue and white until he graduated high school in the spring and didn’t officially enroll until mid-June.

Even with less than two months with the team, Franklin said Denmark has “flashed” and that there is “pretty significant buzz” about him in the program.

“It’s route running, it’s being competitive, it’s his confidence with his hands and catching the ball, it’s his ability to retain information,” Franklin said.

Denmark joins a wide receiver room that is under pressure to perform this season after an underwhelming season in 2023. A season in which tight ends Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren and running back Nick Singleton made up three of Penn State’s top five leading receivers in yards.

The other two receivers in the top five were KeAndre Lambert-Smith, who transferred to Auburn, and Dante Cephas, who transferred to Kansas State.

As for Cousins, he made his impression on Franklin almost three years ago.

According to 247Sports, Cousins received his scholarship offer from Penn State in October 2021 after taking two unofficial visits. He committed to Franklin & Co. in January 2022 without visiting any other schools and had offers from Kentucky, Toledo, and Pitt.

After committing, Cousins took four more visits to and attended two camps at Penn State before signing his letter of intent in December 2023.

“He was as low maintenance and highly-rated recruit I have ever been associated with,” Franklin said.

Cousins now has a semester and a week of fall camp under his belt but still continues to put in work after hours.

“The guy is either in class or in the building and asking a ton of questions,” Franklin said. “I’ll go to the bathroom after watching film at like 9:45 p.m., and I walk to my office and he’s out there on the field every night with headphones on doing pass sets.”

Although his name isn’t being thrown around to break into the starting lineup this season, Franklin said Cousins still continues to give it his all every day.

“He is as driven and as committed as a young player I’ve ever been around,” Franklin said. “And specifically on the O-line because it’s hard to play those grown man positions as a true freshman. He’s going to be hard to keep off the field.”