Two Penn State football developments this past week indicated two levels of risk. Both hinted very strongly that James Franklin feels pretty good about where his program is.
The announcement of former defensive end and defensive assistant Deion Barnes as the team’s new defensive line coach was a popular one among much of the fan base and, as a short video released by the team showed, even more popular with the players. And it’s not hard to see why. Barnes possesses just about every quality you would like to see in a young coach: He’s played the game at a high level, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors in 2012, has a knack for teaching it, has recruiting ties in a relatively key region, and has the sort of grinder mentality one needs to survive the ultracompetitive world of college football.
He’s missing one quality, though: This is his first big-boy coaching job.