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Lottery Numbers for Monday, July 25

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Nyeem Wartman-White eager to return to Penn State football team

<p>CHICAGO &#8212; James Franklin views 2016 as the start of the future for Penn State football. But a week away from training camp, the battle with the past continues for the Nittany Lions coach and his staff.</p><p>On one hand there&#8217;s a new offense and a mostly replenished roster. On the other are high expectations from fans and rival programs hoping to use the shadows of the Jerry Sandusky scandal against the Lions.</p><p>The solution is simple enough.</p><p>&#8220;Winning,&#8221; Franklin said, &#8220;is going to help a lot of things.&#8221;</p><p>Speaking Monday at Big Ten media days in Chicago, the third-year Lions coach is anxious to get back toward even ground in the extremely competitive East division.</p><p>Franklin is well aware that Penn State is a combined 0-6 against Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State on his watch. With most of the effects of NCAA sanctions now gone &#8212; the Lions are close to the 85-scholarship limit once again but still have a thin senior class &#8212; the outlook is different this fall.</p><p>&#8220;If Penn State is playing those other teams and they all had 65 scholarships as well, then it&#8217;s a fair argument,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;If they had 75 scholarships, it&#8217;s a fair argument. But we&#8217;re not comparing apples to apples.</p><p>&#8220;I get it. Everyone is looking for that type of (signature) win that they can focus on. &#8230; This is our first year in a similar situation to everyone else in the country. And I think it&#8217;s fair to start making those comparisons now.&#8221;</p><p>Where Penn State remains at a disadvantage is the still-lingering Sandusky scandal.</p><p>Those wounds were reopened again this summer when <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/local/564939/documents-paterno-ignored-boys-sandusky-complaint-in-1976-6" target="_blank">unsealed court documents</a> included a deposition from a man who alleged he had told former coach Joe Paterno in 1976 that he was abused by Sandusky, the Lions&#8217; former defensive coordinator.</p><p>Each news item leads to a new round of fires to put out on the recruiting trail as other schools try to dissuade top prospects from picking Penn State.</p><p>&#8220;These things are going to be going on for a number of years,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;My focus needs to be on the things that I can control. And that&#8217;s not one of them.</p><p>&#8220;For me, answering questions about things that happened 40 years ago when I was 4 years old, I don&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s necessarily the best use of my time, or others, to be honest with you.&#8221;</p><p>Franklin emphasized that every school in the country deals with negative recruiting in some fashion.</p><p>&#8220;But there is a line you do not cross,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour said last week in a sitdown with reporters in State College that she had been personally talking to recruits because they had been told that other schools were saying that Penn State could face further Sandusky-related sanctions, something she said was not true.</p><p>Franklin did not mention any schools by name on Monday. In an interview last month with the Reading Eagle, he did bring up Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame as schools, among others, who are making it tough for the Lions to move on from the Sandusky scandal, saying that they use it against the Lions.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re probably in a position where we have to answer more tough questions than maybe any program in the country,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;Fortunately the families of the young men have been open, saying, &#8216;Look, this is what we&#8217;re hearing. Can you help us with this?&#8217; We&#8217;re able to answer those questions or provide people that can help.</p><p>&#8220;If people don&#8217;t communicate what the concerns or issues are, it&#8217;s hard to solve them. It&#8217;s made some things a little bit more challenging. There&#8217;s no blueprint. There&#8217;s no one you can call or ask how to handle this situation because it&#8217;s extremely unique.&#8221;</p><p>Penn State has been able to regain some recruiting momentum recently, landing commitment from North Carolina linebacker Brelin Faison-Walden and safety Jonathan Sutherland in the past week.</p><p>But the key remains the same. Start winning more games, and the negative recruiting won&#8217;t have as much of an impact.</p><p>&#8220;This is going to be a very important year for us, no doubt,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;To make progress, to show the direction that we&#8217;re going. And our players understand that. Our coaches understand that. Our fans and administration, too. I think everybody is aligned and understands that.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State head coach James Franklin says victories are the only way to get past any negative recruiting tactics used by rival schools during Big Ten Media Day in Chicago on Monday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_JamesFranklin-MediaDay-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State head coach James Franklin says victories are the only way to get past any negative recruiting tactics used by rival schools during Big Ten Media Day in Chicago on Monday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tae-Gyun Kim | AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> AST_-NZhsIk</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AST_-NZhsIk</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> James Franklin addresses the crowd at Big Ten media days.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Derek Levarse</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Penn State, James Franklin want wins to silence critics