ALTOONA, Pa. -- That's Kalen King pictured up above, and entering the Peach Bowl, everyone thought the cornerback was going to play for Penn State.
Why? Well, because James Franklin had just spoken about King a few days earlier and had given the indication that he would play, without confirming it 100 percent.
"To be able to finish the season with your teammates, I think is important, but I also understand the challenge of it. So just try to have great conversations and discussion," Franklin said. "Kalen was great. Kalen's parents were great. I had really good discussions and came up with a plan that everybody was comfortable with. So great to have him here and be part of the program for one more game."
Note how "be part of the program for one more game" does NOT confirm that King would be playing. But that's pretty much what everyone read into Franklin's comments -- media and fans alike.
But as it turned out, King did not play in Saturday's game in Atlanta. When the personnel report was made public two hours before the game, King was listed as "out."
Uh-oh. That was going to be a big problem, if you knew anything about the Penn State team. Because we had already learned that the other starting cornerback -- Johnny Dixon -- wasn't even with the team and wouldn't be playing.
Up until that personnel report came out, the only player other than Dixon who everyone knew was not going to play was defensive end Chop Robinson. He said as much during his goodbye letter on social media when he indicated he was declaring for the draft.
Star left tackle Olu Fashanu had not indicated he was opting out of the bowl game. Now, anyone who knows Fashanu's situation at all should have realized he was not going to play. The guy is going to be a top 10 pick in the draft, and it would have been foolish for him to play and risk injury.
But Fashanu had not opted out publicly, despite having ample opportunity to do so. He wrote in his goodbye letter that "I look forward to spending time with my teammates and coaches in Atlanta for the Peach Bowl."
What wound up happening turned out to be fascinating and, to MANY fans, very frustrating.
If you've followed fan reaction since the 38-25 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday, you've noticed that a whole bunch of people are upset over the opt outs and feeling like they were misled by Franklin and Penn State.
Lied to is too strong of a way to word it. But yeah, misled does indeed characterize how a lot of people feel.
Why would fans feel misled? Because Franklin had made it pretty clear on several occasions that he believes the Penn State program has been built in such a way that players would want to play in bowl games rather than opting out.
Here's what the coach said last week:
"We've worked really hard to create a relationship with our players that there can be open and honest dialogue and discussions," Franklin said. "We've tried to create an environment where really there's no reason for any player to opt out. What I mean by that is all the way back to Saquon Barkley, who was being projected as a top 15 pick, there's a way to do this where the player, the family, the agents, whoever, everybody's comfortable with the plan."
Go back and read it again. And again.
Does that not sound like Franklin is suggesting that the key Penn State players would be playing? And again, up until then, only Robinson had opted out.
Now, I will repeat, if you know Fashanu's situation, you should have realized it would be silly for him to play. But based on the fact that he hadn't opted out publicly and that Franklin had said "there's no reason for any player to opt out," doesn't that sort of suggest, no matter who the player or his situation, that Penn State expects the guy to play?
Therefore, fans should expect the guy to play, as well, right?
Now look, every player has the right to opt out of bowl games. We're talking about a vicious sport, and these guys who are ready to turn pro have every right to make whatever decision they feel is best for their health and careers.
I have no problem with Olu or Chop or King opting out. And neither should anybody else. Dixon is a bit of a different story, since he's not expected to be a high draft pick, but hey, he can make whatever decision he feels is best.
The problem here is with how everything was presented, by Franklin and by the players themselves.
And the big question is this: Do fans have the right to know if players are going to be opting out WELL BEFORE the game?
This is what has led to an uproar within the fan base in recent days.
A lot of fans spend a whole bunch of money to travel to bowl games, and they expect to see the team they saw all season, especially when it's kind of presented that way by the head coach.
Now, it is fair to say that fans have to determine whether or not to spend their bowl travel money early in the process, and so maybe they shouldn't be waiting to find out whether players will be opting out or not. The timing of it all gets confusing.
But at the very least, many fans do still take a lot of pride in the actual bowl game itself, and they want to see their team put up as good of a fight as possible.
Did Penn State do that in the Peach Bowl? Absolutely not, because it couldn't, not when playing without four star players.
Should there be rules in place for the team to announce which players are opting out? And a deadline to do so? By having those stipulations in place, then fans would at least be able to have some idea how competitive the team would be, and whether they want to spend their money or their time committing to the game.
When Penn State fans found out Saturday morning that King and Fashanu definitely weren't playing, it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the Lions were in trouble. Although it was, I will say, staggering and ridiculous to believe that the Vegas point spread actually went from Penn State -4.5 to -5.5 after the opt outs were announced, which means Vegas totally botched that one.
From my view, Franklin and Penn State lost all credibility with regards to bowl opt outs because of how they handled this situation. Whether Franklin was just playing some game to keep Ole Miss off balance or not thinking it had to prepare for the whole team, the way the coach kept talking about there being no reason for any player to opt out was incredibly disingenous.
Just be honest about it. If guys aren't going to play, tell us they aren't going to play. Fans deserve that much, regardless of how coy the coach is trying to be with regards to his gamesmanship antics.
Furthermore, there should be a rule in place that says players who are opting out need to do so by a certain deadline. If college football is going to keep asking fans to just accept all these opt-outs, then the very least the sport can do is keep things on the up and up about who's going to play or not.
Otherwise, all you're doing is misleading the fans, like Franklin and Penn State just did.
Lastly, I just cannot buy for one second that King and/or Fashanu decided at the last minute not to play on game day. That rumor is out there among fans, but it would contradict EVERYTHING Franklin always says about keeping open and honest dialogue with the players.
If, for instance, Franklin thought King was going to play and then King backed out at the last minute, then it makes Franklin look really bad because it would show that, no, he does NOT have the kind of open and honest relationship with the players that he likes to brag about.
Whatever did happen here -- and I doubt we'll ever find out publicly from Franklin or anyone else -- Penn State fans do have every right to feel misled.
