Catching Zzzs, monitoring stress all part of Lions' training

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — James Franklin has been known to tweet at his players to study or go to bed. He's also shown up to a class -- invited by the professor as he likes to remind people -- and called his players out for not sitting in the front row.

It's safe to say he keeps a close eye on them and now with the tap of a button on an iPad, the Nittany Lions' head coach — the same one who slept on an air mattress in his office in the football building before his family moved to town — can also monitor how many hours of sleep his players are getting per night.

"If they are not sleeping and they are up too late, I can tap in and my face pops up and I can yell at them to go to sleep," Franklin said. "No, I'm kidding."

Penn State's players are wearing a device that looks like an Apple Watch called a "WHOOP" that the team issued to them in the spring. It lets players and the staff know whether or not their sleep patterns fall into the desired green-colored category on a nightly basis. It also monitors stress levels, how much the player worked out that day and their heart rate.