Does James Franklin Have Buyer’s Remorse From the Jim Knowles Hire?

Those comments were measured and deliberate, and throwing shade toward new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, the same coach who helped Ohio State win a national championship just last season before coming to Happy Valley.

Franklin also delivered a telling comparison when asked about execution:

“If you’re making mistakes at linebacker and can’t run the defense, then it’s hard to execute, no different than at the quarterback position. So those positions, it’s a little bit more magnified.”

That’s as close as Franklin got to an open rebuke.

Translation: his players are thinking too much, and his coordinator’s system is slowing them down.

But, thinking is not uncommon for players in a new system. It takes time to understand assignments, tendencies, and philosophies if you are a defender. It’s not like backyard football – see the ball, pursue the ball.

A Player’s Admission

Franklin’s comments gained even more weight Monday night when safety King Mack spoke to reporters. As shared by Inside The Lions‘ Audrey Snyder, Mack revealed just how steep the learning curve under Knowles has been:

“What I started doing is going to the defensive staff meeting after practice,” Mack told reporters. “Hearing Coach Knowles’ critique helped me understand what he wants. Once I started going to all the D-staff meetings and seeing what he wants, it made everything easier for me.”

That’s a candid admission from a starter on a veteran unit.

It took extra, voluntary staff meetings for a player to grasp the scheme better. It also validates Franklin’s point that his defense isn’t playing fast because they’re still learning what to do, which again isn’t just common, it’s expected.

When one of your starting safeties essentially says he had to start sitting in on coaching meetings to decode the playbook, it underscores that the “adjustments” Franklin referenced aren’t just tweaks, they’re a fundamental overhaul that’s left some players swimming.

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A Sharp Learning Curve

Knowles’ defense has a reputation for complexity, disguised pressures, hybrid coverages, and terminology that can overwhelm even experienced players.

It worked at Ohio State because of continuity and talent depth. In Year one at Penn State, though, it’s looking more like friction than finesse.

Franklin’s words make it clear he sees that gap between whiteboard and field execution, and he’s not hiding behind coach-speak anymore. His tone Monday was deliberate and almost surgical.

But, I think it’s an example of pointing fingers and deflecting the blame from a catastrophic eight days that saw his team lose to a very good Oregon team and then lost to a not very good UCLA team.

If the system doesn’t click soon, the whispers about buyer’s remorse will get louder but only from Franklin, and they should fall on deaf ears.

Knowles is a championship defensive coordinator for a reason and any disparaging comments about Penn State’s defense should be taken with a grain of salt.

Franklin hand-picked Knowles to replace Tom Allen, who spent one season in Happy Valley, in 2024, after Manny Diaz left for Duke, and immediately turned that team into an ACC contender.

Adding Knowles was a great acquisition for his Penn State defense, and if he feels the need to criticize his defensive coordinator because of the two early losses, then it seems that Franklin is just having trouble taking accountability for where the program is right now.

After Monday’s press conference, there’s no mistaking the overall vibe – the excuses are just that, and they don’t help you win football games.