James Franklin spoke of his plans to play more freshmen and underclassmen in the final three games of the season on Monday.

With Luke Reynolds, Dejuan Lane, and Cooper Cousins already receiving the green light to burn their redshirts this season, Franklin named 11 others he’d like to get game reps. Of those freshmen, Corey Smith and Eagan Boyer made the biggest impact offensively in the 49-10 blowout win over Purdue.

Due to Penn State football rules, freshmen are prohibited from speaking to the media, so upperclassmen like Beau Pribula, Nick Singleton, and Drew Shelton all spoke for them.

“I think a younger guy that’s been doing a lot of good things all season long — he scored his first touchdown today — is Luke Reynolds,” Pribula said after the game.

Reynolds finished the game with three catches for 53 yards and a late 24-yard touchdown pass from Pribula. The former four-star tight end was the Nittany Lions’ third leading receiver behind fellow tight end Tyler Warren and was one yard behind wide receiver Trey Wallace.

“I think he’s got a very bright future and I think this is going to be extremely valuable, this year, getting the reps that he’s getting,” Franklin said.

Another true freshman and one who has recently made a name for himself is Smith. The former four-star made his first appearance in the backfield last week in the White Out game against Washington. The Waukesha, Wisconsin, native had five carries for 95 yards at a 19-yards-per-carry clip in the game.

“Corey’s that guy,” Singleton said. “He’s still learning a lot, but he’s picking it up.”

Against Purdue, Smith received his first carry in the fourth quarter and finished with 37 yards on eight carries at 4.6 yards per carry. His rushing yards were 17 more than Kaytron Allen’s total and three yards less than Singleton’s total of 40 yards.

“He’s competitive as hell. He’s fast, strong, and he’s getting stronger,” Singleton said. “He changes direction like I’ve never seen before. He’s real shifty. You could probably tell during the game last week, even today too. He’s a really good player.”

Quinton Martin Jr. is another back the Nittany Lions have used in relief of Allen and Singleton. Martin was also a former four-star recruit who has already appeared in a few games this season and recorded eight rushes for 25 yards and three receptions for 18 yards.

However, due to the threat of losing his redshirt and being banged up some this year, Martin did not play against the Boilermakers. But Singleton has still been impressed.

“Quinton’s been really good too. He can do anything. He can run, catch, block, be a complete back,” Singleton said. “He brings the energy to our offense [and] in our running back room too. He and Corey [both have].”

Smith, Martin, and Reynolds can’t be productive without solid offensive line play. The young linemen helped pave the way for Smith and Priula to cap off the Nittany Lions’ 234-yard rushing day and didn’t allow a sack or a quarterback hit.

“I think they did really well,” Shelton said. “Just being able to go in and not see much drop off from them. That’s impressive.”

One player Shelton called out after the game was freshman tackle Eagan Boyer.

Boyer was a three-star lineman from Cornelius, North Carolina, who was undersized weight-wise coming out of William Amos Hough High School. Boyer was 6’8″ and 250 pounds when he arrived at Penn State and now he’s listed at 6’8″ and 280 pounds.

“He’s been working really hard to put weight on and has been working really hard on his technique,” Shelton said. “For him to go out there and play, and play pretty well, I think that’s very impressive and I’m really proud of him.”

Comparing freshman to the stars in their position is premature. But Pribula said he already sees a little bit for former and current Penn State stars in Reynolds.

“It’s tough. You can compare him to Tyler, Theo [Johnson, Brenton [Strange], all the guys who have come before him,” Pribula said. “Hopefully he’s the next one, just like the rest of the tight ends in our room.”