James Franklin on Not Offering 5'9" Linemen: “Genetics Play a Role”

If you're 5'9" and want to play offensive line for Penn State... it's not going to happen, and James Franklin will tell you whom to blame: Your mom, for bumping uglies with that short creepy dude she met at a Bruce Springsteen concert in the late 1990s.

From Mike Poorman of StateCollege.com:

“Genetics plays a role in how good your son is going to be,” said the second-year Nittany Lion head coach.

“If a kid who’s 5-9 comes up to me and wants to play the offensive line and didn’t get an offer (for a scholarship from Penn State), I’ll tell him, ‘Don’t get mad at me. Get mad at your parents. Your mom shouldn’t have married your dad.’”

That's a tough but fair take from the fourth-best coach in the Big Ten East, who, it should be noted, said this in a joking fashion.