James Franklin comments on rumors connecting him to USC job

James Franklin has had his name come up in connection to the USC Trojans’ job for a couple of years now.

And, now that USC has fired coach Clay Helton following a Week 2 loss to Stanford, Franklin is front and center in the rumor mill once again.

On Tuesday, Franklin issued a statement during a press conference, saying he’ll discuss it with Penn State’s leadership council. He said he wants to make sure all the focus is on Auburn, Penn State’s Week 3 opponent:

Penn State coach James Franklin on USC job speculation:

"I can't stand any form of distraction. I'll discuss this today with the [team] leadership council so that we can make sure that all of our energy is on our preparation for Auburn. That's how we'll handle it."

— Tyler Donohue (@TDsTake) September 14, 2021

The rumors aren’t going to go away until USC has its new head coach, and that could take the rest of the season.

We’ll see how Franklin and the Penn State players respond.