As reported earlier in the week, Penn State and a handful of other college football programs are under consideration for a role in an upcoming HBO series similar to Hard Knocks, chronicling behind-the-scenes in the lead-up to a game during each program’s respective seasons.
Asked about the possibility following practice on Wednesday, coach James Franklin pumped the breaks on the idea ever so slightly.
‘We’re honored to be a part of that conversation,” Franklin said. “Obviously when any of these things like this come up, and these opportunities have come up the last three or four years, we consider all these options that we think are in the university’s best interest, the athletic department’s best interest, and our football program’s best interest.”
‘It’s great that we’re in that conversation, but no decisions have been made at this time,’ Franklin continued. ‘As you can imagine, there’s a lot that goes into it, not just with Penn State but with the Big Ten and a lot of other things factor into it.’
For all of the programs involved the level of access and distractions around the program would be a consideration. Penn State enters 2019 looking to work in a new quarterback and fairly young starters on both sides of the ball. The addition of cameras -beyond the in-house crew already working- especially in the lead up to an important game might be deemed to be one distraction too many. ESPN’s previous all-access look at Penn State happened during training camp.
But until all of the details are known and contracts are [or are not] signed, everyone will simply have to wait and see.
“At this point, we haven’t made a decision, but once we have all the details, we can make a decision at that point.”
