Tinsley’s journey has been a wild ride
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By Andy Stine
astine@altoonamirror.com
UNIVERSITY PARK -- Mitchell Tinsley started out his college football career at Hutchinson Community College in 2018. After spending two seasons there, he spent another couple years at Western Kentucky before entering the transfer portal and coming to Penn State for his last year of eligibility.
He was a second team All-Conference USA selection last season, and with the opt-out of Parker Washington for the Rose Bowl, Tinsley figures to be the No. 1 receiver in The Granddaddy Of Them All on Jan. 2.
Tinsley, who is projected to be a Day 3 pick in the NFL Draft in April, said he didn't have any reservations about playing in the Rose Bowl.
"I just think I want to finish what I started," Tinsley said. "The Rose Bowl is definitely an exciting way to finish it."
Not a bad way to finish up a college career that has spanned through three schools.
Coaches have ties
Franklin and Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham have a small tie-in with each other as both were assistant coaches at one time at Idaho State.
Whittingham spent time as a linebackers and special teams coach, as well as the defensive coordinator from 1988-93. Franklin was the wide receivers coach there in 1999.
"I've known Kyle Whittingham for a long time. I have a ton of respect for him," Franklin said. "He has been at Utah for almost 30 years. He's done a great job. If you're truly a football guy and you watch him, that's what a team is supposed to look like, in my opinion. They're a tough football team. They're a physical football team. They know how to win games a lot of different ways. I've got a bunch of respect for them."
Stadium update
PSU athletic director Pat Kraft held a press conference before Franklin took his turn on Friday, and gave an update on the future of Beaver Stadium.
Even though Kraft said nothing is finalized, he did say an announcement was coming. He also noted that there have been 19 studies done on Beaver Stadium within the last nine years.
Whatever the next step is, it doesn't sound like building an entirely new stadium is feasible from a financial standpoint. Kraft also eluded to the fact that he would prefer to see Beaver Stadium stay around for the future.
"To build new anywhere, it's expensive. Let me just put it that way," Kraft said. "We have some numbers. We are very happy to have over 100,000 fans. No one is building a 100,000-seat stadium. That's important to us. That's an important piece to who we are.
"I love this building. I love the history of this building. I want to make this building better. All the data is there. Now we're figuring out the financial side."
Kraft also mentioned during his time that Penn State's ticket allotment for the Rose Bowl sold out in a matter of minutes.
Transfer portal talk
Once the season is over, the transfer portal starts to fill up fast. This has been the process for a couple years now, and James Franklin had a lot of positive thoughts on the transfer portal as a whole.
"I think a lot of what the NCAA came up with in theory makes sense," Franklin said. "You can have all the conversations you want beforehand, and with kids, it's different.
"It's a very different pace. You can literally get a phone call from a kid that's been on the fence, and then you get a phone call at (midnight) and he's ready to jump. And you better have the answer because he could wake up in the morning and have second thoughts. Things happen fast."