Penn State has found itself blazing along the recruiting trail in recent weeks and people have noticed both inside and outside college football. For the Nittany Lions, the mastermind behind their success lies within the multi-talented [autotag]Ja’Juan Seider[/autotag].
Seider serves as the running backs coach, co-offensive coordinator, and assistant head coach on James Franklin’s staff. Despite all those roles he is also serving as a master recruiter, with 247Sports recognizing Seider for his efforts as the Big Ten recruiter of the year for the 2023 cycle validating his worth on the staff.
The sixth-year coach came to Penn State to serve as just the running backs coach, a role he served previously at Florida, West Virginia, and Marshall. Seider played college football at West Virginia and was a sixth-round draft pick in the 2000 NFL draft. His NFL career never made its way off the ground but he has excelled as a coach at every stop he has been.
In recent years, specifically in 2023, Seider has been able to flex his recruiting muscle by landing players such as [autotag]Nick Singleton[/autotag], [autotag]Kaytron Allen[/autotag], and [autotag]Abdul Carter[/autotag]. All three players have made an immediate impact as freshmen and are poised for much larger impacts and definitive roles for the remaining years they are Nittany Lions.
After helping to land commitments from Singleton and Allen in the Class of 2023, Seider and Penn State were challenged to pad the depth at running back this offseason following the departure of Keyvone Lee. All Penn State has done since is add veteran running back Trey Potts out of the transfer portal from Minnesota and land one of the top running back prospects in the Class of 2024, Kiandre Barker. Seider played a huge role in both efforts.
Chatted with Penn State’s newest commit @KiandreaBarker about why he picked PSU. He cited relationships with RB coach Ja’Juan Seider (@coachseider) assistant RB coach Charles Walker (@CoachCBW) and, of course, James Franklin (@coachjfranklin). https://t.co/rXivKYg4uQ
— Joe Smeltzer (@joesmeltzer775) April 16, 2023
Whatever success this team has it will be equally distributed but recognizing the work of Seider and the eye for the talent he has can’t go unnoticed. After recognizing talent he then has shown an ability to coach it up and that is a priceless trait for anyone and as long as he is on Franklin’s staff.
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