Penn State head coach James Franklin made it clear Tuesday that he wasn’t in search of simply anybody to fill the void left by Ja’Juan Seider, who took the identical function at Notre Dame final weekend.
“We’ve obtained to exit and get the perfect candidate we will,” Franklin said Tuesday, per 247Sports’ Tyler Donohue. “There’s a listing that’s most likely not as deep as individuals consider candidates that may come to Penn State.”
Drayton is a kind of choose few coaches with a confirmed capacity to develop top-tier expertise whereas sustaining robust relationships with gamers and recruits alike. He inherits a backfield that includes Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton, each returning after 1,000-yard speeding seasons.
Managing large expectations in a working again room gained’t be new for Drayton — his monitor report speaks for itself. His checklist of former gamers consists of Ezekiel Elliott and Carlos Hyde at Ohio State, Bijan Robinson at Texas, Jerious Norwood at Mississippi State and Brian Westbrook at Villanova. He additionally performed a task in recruiting Cam Newton and the Pouncey twins, Mike and Maurkice, to Florida, per his Temple bio.
Past teaching, Seider left large sneakers to fill in recruiting. He was named 247Sports’ 2023 Big Ten Recruiter of the Year, and Franklin confused that trait was excessive on his guidelines for a alternative.
“It’s not the end-all be-all, however I feel after we can get anyone that’s from both the Northeast or the Massive Ten footprint, that’s essential too,” he mentioned.
Drayton, with deep roots within the area and a protracted historical past of top-tier recruiting, checks that field.
Franklin additionally emphasised the necessity for expertise and not using a decline in trajectory, a key issue that apparently set Drayton aside from different candidates. Whereas some choices could have had robust recruiting chops or participant growth expertise, few mixed each at an elite degree with the confirmed capacity to win at powerhouse packages.
“You type of discover that candy spot of a man that’s obtained sufficient expertise, each in teaching and in recruiting at this degree, that we’re going to get the return on our funding shortly,” Franklin mentioned. “That’s the onerous half, discovering that candy spot… however not an excessive amount of that possibly they’re on the downward development of their profession as properly.”
Drayton suits that mildew. He’s coached at each degree, from the NFL to powerhouse school packages, and now, he steps right into a state of affairs at Penn State the place expertise is already in place. His job isn’t to construct from scratch — it’s to take an already proficient group and push it to championship caliber.
