James Franklin delivers power message to Penn State football on sacrifice

The Penn State football program that is run by James Franklin is built on four core values. Positive attitude, great work ethic, compete in everything you do, and must be willing to sacrifice. On Friday, a message was shared by the Nittany Lion social media team of Franklin explaining why the team must come first this fall.

James Franklin enters the 2024 season with high expectations. To be fair, each season comes with high expectations but this year is different. With the expanded College Football Playoff accepting 12 teams this postseason, the Penn State football team is expected to make the cut and compete for a championship.

But in order to do that, the Nittany Lion players must be willing to put each other first according to Franklin. A video shared by the Penn State football social media team on Twitter/X on Friday outlined Franklin’s message to the team about sacrifice.

“It is about the team,” Franklin said emphatically. “It’s harder than it’s ever been because in society it’s about me, me, me, me, me all of the time. It has got to be about the team. And the reality is more times than not in college football the team success and your individual success goes hand in hand.

“It’s got to be about the team. If you guys pour your heart and soul into the team, it’ll come back to you tenfold. You will find that in life. The more you try to serve others and help other people it’ll come back to you ten times. If you’re focused on yourself and achieving something as an individual, you’ll never get where you want to go in this life. Everyone has to understand that, team, team, team, team.”

WE > me

Team-First Mentality#WeAre x @CoachJFranklin pic.twitter.com/3Qcip4umMd

— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) August 16, 2024

Franklin discusses the future of a 2nd year transfer addition

Credit: Grace Carella / Basic Blues Nation.

It’s challenging to buy into Franklin’s message, especially when you’re not able to contribute. But second-year transfer addition DT Alonzo Ford understands that unselfish mindset and being willing to sacrifice as well as anyone. Last season he suffered a season-ending injury before he was able to play a snap for the Nittany Lions, but that didn’t stop him from pouring everything in his method of helping the team, which was recovery.

On Tuesday night, James Franklin shared a positive update on Ford’s progress in the program.

He’s been a real pleasant surprise, he really has,” Franklin said about Alonzo Ford. “Very good against the run. I think as he continues to gain confidence and get his body back from that amount of time off with his injury, I think he’ll get better and better and better in the pass game.

“We were excited about hopefully what he would have been able to do last year, but we hadn’t really had a chance to see him a whole lot. So, he’s been a nice, pleasant surprise for depth inside. And I think as he continues to get back into football shape, I think he could be competing for a starting job.”

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