Penn State football: Julian Fleming tells backstory of wild NIL commercial

After shunning the Nittany Lions the first time around, former five-star wide receiver Julian Fleming returned home this offseason, joining Penn State football via the transfer portal.

Fleming kept a low profile throughout the winter despite being one of the most significant pickups for James Franklin and the Nittany Lions of the portal era. The one-time top receiver in the 2020 class put his head down and went to work.

But there was that one commercial.

Days after committing to the Nittany Lions, Julian Fleming popped up in an ad for Blaise Alexander CDJR of Lewisburg. Literally and figuratively, Fleming went out and crushed it.

Our first opportunity to speak to him in long form since arriving in State College, Fleming explained the backstory behind the wild NIL commercial at Penn State football media day on Saturday.

“So, actually, Blaise Alexander and my grandfather are pretty close,” Fleming said. “They’re kind of acquaintances. And I think he sat in Blaise’s box for one of the games last year. And a lot of people that work in Blaise’s shop are actually alum of my high school. So we kind of talked about it [the commercial], and we’re like, ‘Hey, what would be cool to do?’ and he’s [Alexander] like, ‘I think we should smash a car. I have an old Camry sitting back there. I’m like, ‘Alright, let’s smash it.’ But I’m like, ‘Let me run it over too.’ And that’s what I wanted to do, is run over.

“And my truck didn’t get over it. It couldn’t get over it without ripping something off. So they had another big, jacked-up Jeep that was sitting there and they let me do it…It took an hour to do the whole thing. It was great. It was a quick process. Most of the stuff was just one shot, and you’re good to go. The only thing that sucked was that I didn’t have a voice.”

Franklin confident in Penn State receivers, but still looking for more

© Alex Disabella / Basic Blues Nation, 2024.

Julian Fleming was brought in this offseason to provide veteran leadership and bolster a wide receiver room that was lacking in 2023.

Only a few days into training camp, the early returns on Fleming and the rest of the Nittany Lions receivers have been trending the right way. But, as we have heard many times from James Franklin over the last 18 months, he’s still looking for more from the entire room.

“I thought our entire staff, as well as team, felt like the wide receivers took a big jump in day two compared to day one,” Franklin said Saturday. “And I know a lot of the coaches and players, Jaylen Reed, actually spoke to the team after practice about it. So I thought that was a real positive.

“But it’s just kind of a small pool right now to really base that off of. I’ll have a better idea a week from now. But so far, solid, and obviously there’s still some steps that need to be taken there for that entire room.

“Obviously, that’s been a big question mark for the media and some of the fans. I think the coaching staff and I think the players have, I would say a good amount of confidence in what that room has the ability to do and the amount of work that they have put in with Beau [Pribula] and Drew [Allar] all summer.”

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