Five minutes into his introductory press conference on Jan. 11, 2014, James Franklin made a seven-word proclamation that resonated with high school coaches, prospects — and opponents — across the commonwealth.
“We are going to dominate the state,” Franklin said.
Those final three words took on a life of their own. They became a hashtag on Twitter and landed on T-shirts. It became the mantra of Franklin’s recruiting push at Penn State.
But the seven words that followed “dominate the state” are often forgotten. “We are going to dominate the region,” Franklin added. That philosophy has been just as important to the Nittany Lions’ success, and maybe no surrounding state has been more vital than New Jersey.