Video: James Franklin's visit back to his alma mater provides lots of lessons
A few months ago, James Franklin returned to his old stomping grounds at East Stroudsburg University to give a commencement speech. We covered his powerful message to the ESU graduating class of "stay broke and chase your dreams" back then, but Penn State recently released a video highlighting his entire trip, and it's excellent.
The 12 minute highlight of Franklin's time back on campus visiting with old friends, professors, and recent grads is a great profile of him away from football that recruits, parents, and fans will appreciate.
At about the 9:30 mark, Franklin talks about a sign that he remembers from campus that reads "OPPORTUNITYISNOWHERE". It's a sign that he has duplicated wherever he's been because of the simple message it sends; you can either read it as "opportunity is now here" or "opportunity is nowhere" depending on your outlook.
Franklin talks about how he uses that message to teach perspective to his players and coaches.
"I think that's a really good tool to show people that life is how you see it."
"I ask players on our team, and I ask coaches all the time, 'How's your day?' and if they say 'alright' that's exactly how their day will be. If they say 'It's the best day I've ever had,' or 'I'm living the dream' that's how it will be."
Overall this is just an outstanding video from Penn State with a number of great messages, and a great behind the scenes look at Franklin's visit to his alma mater.
"It was great talking and laughing and telling stories and just being able to relax...which isn't always the case. It's tough to do that in State College a lot of times and there, I'm still just James." Franklin shared.
