James Franklin praises two true freshmen Penn State football players

With fall camp opening this week, many fans are excited for the 2024 Penn State football season. On Saturday, James Franklin addressed the media for the first time since camp has opened and had positive things to say about two true freshmen Nittany Lions. Both QB Ethan Grunkemeyer and EDGE Max Granville have caught Franklin’s eye early into fall camp.

James Franklin addressed the media on Saturday afternoon and provided an update on both Ethan Grunkemeyer and Max Granville. Grunkemeyer has been with the Penn State football team since January when he enrolled early. Whereas Granville was a member of the 2025 recruiting class until he reclassified to the 2024 cycle and enrolled at Penn State last week.

Both players have made great progress since camp opened, and Grunkemeyer has found himself in a unique position. With Jaxon Smolik continuing to deal with an injury, he has made strides on the field as QB No.3 this offseason. Franklin had high praise for the freshman gunslinger.

“Grunk [Ethan Grunkemeyer] has done some nice things,” Franklin said. “We think he’s got a very bright future and is really taking a step.”

Reclassified 2025 commit joins the Nittany Lions

© Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

One of the players that could see playing time this year is new addition edge rusher Max Granville. Just a few weeks ago, Granville was a member of the 2025 recruiting class, but then the opportunity to reclassify came and Granville decided to sign with the Nittany Lions and join the 2024 recruiting class.

He was seen at practice on July 31 after enrolling at Penn State the week before. On Saturday, James Franklin provided his initial thoughts on the reclassified edge rusher.

“Yeah, he’s already flashed in the first two days. Athletic, quick, a lot of things you saw on high school tape but just you don’t know if those things are going to show up when they get here. But that’s already happened.

“He’s also tested really well with our baseline testing with Coach Losey and that staff as soon as he was cleared and able to do that…”

Freshman DE Max Granville (18) reclassified and enrolled last week pic.twitter.com/bJM2wjSsx3

— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) July 31, 2024

Defensive coordinator Tom Allen also had great things to say about Granville.

“I really have high expectations for Max [Granville] and I feel like he’s a guy that has really really good twitch. [He has] great first-step quickness. There’s a lot of things naturally that we’ve seen in practice for a couple of days.”

Granville was a top 200 prospect and the No. 19 linebacker nationally in the 2025 cycle when he committed to the Nittany Lions. Now, the On3 Industry Rankings rate him as the No. 28 edge and No. 243 recruit in the 2024 class

While Penn State has options at defensive end, which will be headlined by Abdul Carter and Dani Dennis-Sutton, as the season continues depth is what separates teams that are contending for a championship and Granville can be a piece of that depth. The road begins on August 31, when Penn State heads to Morgantown, West Virginia to take on the Mountaineers.

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