‘I’ll get any vaccine they’d give me,’ Penn State’s James Franklin says

Penn State coach James Franklin made a two-pronged pitch Wednesday for the COVID-19 vaccine, one professional and one personal.

Widespread vaccinations could help fill Beaver Stadium once again this fall, and a personal vaccination could help Franklin reunite with his family.

“Me personally, I’ll get any vaccine they’d give me,” Franklin said. “… I’ll take them all, if it will help us get back to normal and if it will help me getting back with my family.”

Franklin made the pitch Wednesday after football practice, which the team continues to conduct under COVID-19 testing and mitigation protocols. Penn State will hold a modified version of the Blue-White Game on April 17, permitting only first-year students to attend the final spring practice at Beaver Stadium.

The practice is part of a Penn State reopening process that will include an in-person graduation ceremony in May at Beaver Stadium. The university plans to return to full in-person classes for the fall semester, and Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said she is “hopeful” that Penn State can host a full stadium for the home-opener Sept. 11 against Ball State.

The COVID-19 vaccine is an important part of getting there, Franklin said. However, the coach acknowledged the challenge of mandating people, including his players, to get the vaccine.

“I don’t think you can ever mandate it,” Franklin said. “I think we’ve learned that in our country. You’re going to have a difficult time doing that. But I think what you can do is educate. … And that’s the approach we’ve been taking with our team.

“Also, I think we can get to the point where we say, ‘Hey, look at Beaver Stadium,’ and show flashes of Beaver Stadium and say, ‘Hey, if we want to get back to this as soon as we possibly can, this is a step that we could take that would help us.'”

Personally, Franklin continues to live apart from his wife Fumi and daughters Shola and Addison, who moved back to State College this winter. They lived in a family house in the South for most of 2020 to protect Addison, who has Sickle cell disease.

Though the family lives in the same home, they’re still separated. Franklin continues to maintain a safe distance by living in an apartment above his garage. As a result, getting the vaccine is personal to him.

Franklin has not mentioned a timetable for doing that. According to Pennsylvania guidelines, all commonwealth residents will be eligible to receive the vaccine April 19. That’s two days after Penn State’s final spring practice.

Franklin offered one more suggestion.

“What a great deal that would be, if we put a video out with me talking about, hey, if we want to fill up Beaver Stadium, this could help,” Franklin said. “And [Steelers coach Mike] Tomlin and [Pitt coach Pat] Narduzzi doing it in Pittsburgh and the same thing in Philadelphia. But I do think that’s something that could help us.”

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