Franklin denies accusing schools of negative recruiting tactics

Head coach James Franklin said Tuesday his comments were taken out of context when he appeared to accuse a number of other programs of using negative recruiting tactics against Penn State in June.

"All I said was that every kid that we're recruiting is also being recruited by Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Notre Dame, and that they don't have the same challenges that we have now," Franklin told FOX Sports' Bruce Feldman. "Then, in a separate quote, I mentioned that right now we're (dealing) with negative recruiting. It was two separate quotes, though, over a 35 minute interview.

"I never said that any of those schools are the ones doing the negative recruiting against us. They're not. There is one other particular school, but I didn't name who that was."

The topic came up at Big Ten media days, when both Michigan State's Mark Dantonio and Ohio State's Urban Meyer were asked about the allegation.

"That's not our M.O. and that's not how we do business," Dantonio responded.

Meyer, meanwhile, offered an even swifter reply.

"Absolutely not," he said. "That's the first I've ever heard of that. That's a pretty strong allegation. I will address that with coach Franklin."

Last month, Franklin told Rich Scarella of the Reading Eagle that several coaches were continually using the leftovers of the Jerry Sandusky/Joe Paterno scandal to persuade players against attending Penn State.

"The people we're competing with - Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame - this is just not something they have to deal with," Franklin said as part of a long Q&A with the publication. "Although we want to move on, those other schools are not letting us move on."