Penn State surprised the college football world on Sunday when it fired James Franklin amid its unfathomable spiral out of national championship contention, and a bevy of former Nittany Lions greats stood by Franklin’s side after his ouster. Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, perhaps the most prominent NFL player to hail from Penn State during Franklin’s reign, joined the chorus on Friday.
Barkley was instrumental in Franklin’s monumental rebuild at Penn State and joined the program during the second year of his tenure. The turmoil that came with the end of the Joe Paterno era was still raw when Barkley landed on campus, and he helped his former coach turn the Nittany Lions into perennial Big Ten title hopefuls.
“Seeing Coach Franklin get fired, it definitely hurts,” Barkley said on Friday. “That’s the guy that gave me my shot. He’s a big reason why Penn State — I know the season’s not going the way we would like right now, but the game before the national championship the year before, Big Ten championships. At one point, Penn State wasn’t spoken about how it’s been spoken about the last couple years. I’ve just got nothing but respect for Coach Franklin, not just as a coach but as a man.”
Now a Super Bowl champion, reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year and three-time Pro Bowler, Barkley starred for three years as Franklin’s greatest weapon. He was a two-time All-American and in 2017 won the Paul Hornung Award as the most versatile player in college football. In his final year, Penn State won 11 games for the first of six times in the Franklin era.
“I don’t really use the word ‘father figure’ because my father’s in my life, but whatever term is underneath that, he definitely played a big part in my life and an influence in my life,” Barkley said. “Him and his family. That’s really the furthest I’m going to talk about it. More just worried about the family, worried about him. Obviously, yes, he’s making a lot of money, of course. But he put a lot of himself into that program over there, and it’s tough to see him go.”
Franklin is out after a shocking midseason collapse that saw the Nittany Lions fall from No. 2 in the AP Top 25 to 0-3 in Big Ten play. Three consecutive losses, including two to UCLA and Northwestern, sent the program down to unbelievably low depths. It is a historically poor start, as the last time a preseason AP top-two team opened a year at 3-3 was all the way back in 1964.
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