Penn State's Franklin still facing some decisions

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - With less than two weeks until the season begins, concerns remain for Penn State coach James Franklin. An especially large question mark looms over special teams, Franklin said Wednesday, with the decisions on starting kicker and punter yet to be made.

On a cool Wednesday evening, the 5-foot-10, 261-pound Joey Julius kicked off, as the special-teams unit practiced no-contact kickoff coverage.

"We document everything, every single kick, the time the kick got off in operation, the time the punt got off in operation, the hang time, the ball placement, the distance, everything," Franklin said. "Joe Julius statistically is in the lead right now, but there's inconsistency. . . . When I say he's ahead statistically, it's close. Same with [punter] Daniel Pasquariello . . . . We're going to focus on special teams a little more in the next nine days."

On the other side of the field, the offensive line did shuffle drills.

Paris Palmer has been looking like a probable starting tackle, Franklin said, showing much more optimism about the junior college transfer than he did earlier in camp.

Meanwhile, other linemen are fighting for the starting guard spots.

"I do think there's a little bit of a battle going on inside with [Brian] Gaia, [Derek] Dowrey, and [Brendan] Mahon for those two spots," Franklin said.

As for freshmen, wide receivers Juwan Johnson of Glassboro and Brandon Polk, running back Saquon Barkley, and cornerback John Reid, from St. Joseph's Prep, will not redshirt and could see playing time this season, Franklin said.

Johnson has been "working hard. [He's] passionate about football. Just a great kid to coach," wide receivers coach Josh Gattis said. "I'm really excited about our young guys."

The team also announced that Koa Farmer would move from linebacker to safety.

Heading into his second season at Penn State, Franklin reiterated that his team looks much different than it did at this time last year.

"We went in the stadium [Tuesday] night because I wanted to make sure the first night game we played there wasn't that game. So we had a practice in that environment," Franklin said. "And just standing out there looking at our D-line, they look different. Looking at our safeties, they look different. You look at the wide receivers. The whole group has improved."