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James Franklin on what makes TE Tyler Warren elite | College Football Power Hour

Yahoo Sports college football contributor Adam Breneman talks with Penn State HC James Franklin about what makes TE Tyler Warren so special both from a box score and locker room presence perspective. Hear the full conversation on the “College Football Power Hour” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

A lot of your offense revolves around Tyler Warren from a blocking standpoint, him pulling around the edge.

I mean, it is extremely impressive and I think he should be in the Heisman conversation, at least in the top five of the Heisman conversation for the impact he's made on one of the best teams in the country.

What do you feel like Tyler Warren's elite trait is as a player, you mentioned the football IQ.

But is there something else that he just does so much better than anyone else you've seen at that position?

Yeah, I think his elite trait is that he checks every box, you know, it's not like he's 43, you know, it, it doesn't have one of those elite traits, but his elite trait, which I think is even more rare is he checks every box.

He's also God forbid, a tight end who blocks a lot of these tight ends, who win the, you know, the best tight end in the country award or whatever award it may be each year.

It's based on receiving stats and this guy is a complete tight end and that's why he's so value.

But I think the other thing is when you're tall, I think sometimes people don't realize, you know, when you're 6 ft 6, 260 pounds like he is and he's running and he doesn't look that fast, but no one's catching him like, you know what I mean?

He, he, he takes that, he takes that, uh, wildcat play last week for 50 yards or whatever it is and no one can catch it.

But when you're 6 ft six and you're eating up that grass, you know, Mike Kicki was like that theo was like that, you know, so, um I think his, his, you know, superpower is that he checks every box from a measurement standpoint from a football IQ standpoint from a humility standpoint from a team teammate, standpoint, he just checks them all.

You know, we do our shares like a lot of programs do where the vets get up and talk in front of the team.

And one of his messages was that as a freshman, he questioned whether he would ever play at Penn State, like ever play.

And here he is now.

So I think it's a great message for all these young guys that are sitting in that room or maybe even some older guys that just hasn't been their time yet.

That here's Tyler Warren who questioned himself at one point as well.

And now look what he's doing.

So pretty cool.