How close is James Franklin to playing Daequan Hardy on offense?

The Penn State football offense has lacked the explosive element throughout this season. But where the explosiveness has been clear is on special teams when Daequan Hardy is returning punts. We first saw this against UMass this season when Hardy returned two punts for touchdowns during that game. Then, last Saturday against Indiana Hardy did it again. Except this time, it was called back for a holding penalty. Regardless, it has many Penn State fans thinking, will we see Daequan Hardy take any offensive snaps this season? James Franklin addressed this topic yesterday and had an interesting answer.

James Franklin addresses Daequan Hardy taking offensive snaps

Following the UMass game, James Franklin commented on Daequan Hardy’s performance. Giving the Penn State football community the backstory of how he and Terry Smith saw the dynamic athlete he was in high school, which earned him a scholarship. But after watching Hardy be so dynamic with the ball in his hands, it’s hard not to imagine him on offense. When asked about this James Franklin gave a clear answer.

Franklin said, “On offense, yeah, we have not done that. Again, it’s not that easy. It’s got to be something that you make a decision on very early on and somebody that has the ability to learn both and do both at a high level. 

It’s not something you can just say, okay, this week we’re going to make this guy an offensive player. If you do that, you’re probably just going to use him on the pass plays, and everybody knows he’s in for just the pass play. You lose some of that. So, it’s more complex than that.  

We have guys on defense that just play defense that have missed assignments. We have guys on offense that just play offense and have missed assignments, and that’s limiting their ability to play more, too many missed assignments. When you do both that magnifies it, and that’s something you have to be working on more than just after he returns a punt for a touchdown.”

It doesn’t sound like we will see Hardy on offense just yet, but who knows if they are working on something behind the scenes for the big game against Michigan.