Takeaways from Penn State Media Day

Tagged under: News, Penn State, Pennsylvania Colleges, pfn

Mason Eddinger | August 2, 2025

As the calendar turned to August, teams around the country are gearing up for the college football season. Penn State is no different. The Nittany Lions hosted their media day today, with players and coaches sharing their opinions on how the team is preparing for the season.

  James Franklin took to the podium, and overall, he was pleased with how things were going. Franklin said that the “summer has been going great for us.” He added that their testing numbers have been some of the best he’s seen over his dozen years at the helm for Penn State. One of, if not the biggest, talking points from Franklin was centered around expectations. Franklin acknowledged the expectations, but assured that “the feeling inside the building is the same as any other year”. These expectations are met with Penn State being the 4-th favorite to win the national championship, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. 

  One of the major stories of the Penn State Nittany Lions in 2024 was the lack of receivers for Drew Allar to throw the ball to. Penn State added a trio of proven starters at receiver in Trebor Pena from Syracuse, Kyron Hudson from USC, and Devonte Ross from Troy. With the additions, Franklin believes Penn State will be more “versatile” this year. He admits that last year, the blueprint to stop Penn State was shut down the run and stop Tyler Warren; he believes there will be more avenues to offensive success this year.

With those Wide Receiver additions come more pressure on projected first-round draft pick Drew Allar. When speaking with Allar, he said this is “the most important off-season” of his college career. The task of having to blend in the new transfer WRs into the system will certainly be an interesting story to monitor during Penn State’s lackluster out-of-conference schedule.

Running back Nick Singleton is entering his 4-th and final year of College Football, and the expectations are sky-high for the Governor Mifflin product. Singleton believes his offensive line, who return four starters, will be as good as they’ve been during his time at Penn State. Singleton gave credit to teammate Kaytron Allen, calling him a “brother for life”. Singleton said that Allen has been so vital for his growth, as Allen has been to his. Singleton said he and Allen have pushed each other to greater heights, and he attributes that competition in the backfield to a lot of his success.

Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles brings a championship pedigree to Penn State. Fresh off a title in 2024 with Ohio State, Knowles, like Franklin, was pleased about how spring and summer practices were going. He admits that his defenses are typically “complicated”, but Knowles feels that it is necessary given the nuance of the game. “You need to have answers for everything, especially at this level,” Knowles added. Knowles takes over a previous top-10 defense in Penn State, looking to turn them into the best defense, like he did at Ohio State last year.

Much has been made about Offensive Coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s exotic formations, predominantly involving 2024 Mackey winner Tyler Warren. When speaking to Kotelnicki, he said they don’t expect to be as trick-play oriented as they were in 2024. Like Franklin, Kotelnicki is excited about the prospect of an improved aerial attack given the new transfers. Kotelnicki feels Penn State in 2025 can beat a team in more ways than Penn State in 2024 could.

That makes just four short weeks until Penn State takes the field for what is their biggest season in quite some time. The fanbase is fiending for a National Championship. Will this be the year the Nittany Lions bring it home?

Penn State opens its season at home on August 30th against Nevada.

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