There has been a handful of changes to the football staff this offseason the coaching carousel whisking defensive coordinator Brent Pry to Virginia Tech to be a head coach, special teams coordinator Joe Lorig moving closer to home for the same position at Oregon, long-time strength and condition coach Dwight Galt retiring and key staff member Michael Hazel leaving to join Pry at Virginia Tech. But not every member of James Franklin’s staff is leaving Happy Valley.
According to a report from Matt Zenitz of On3, running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider will not leave Penn State for another coaching opportunity at this time. Seider, according to Zenitz, had been a target of Florida State to be a co-offensive coordinator. But that’s not the only school down south that had pursued Seider this offseason. The Florida Gators were looking to bring Seider to the SEC.
Penn State running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider, who was being pursued for a co-OC job at Florida State, is staying at Penn State, sources tell @on3sports.
Seider, who has been at Penn State since 2018, also recently passed up an opportunity at Florida.https://t.co/k5bN5NhJoE
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 8, 2022
Seider, a Florida native, came to Penn State from the Florida Gators program. Seider was Florida’s run game coordinator for one season in 2017, after a four-year run at West Virginia, his second stint with the Mountaineers (Seider coached at Marshal for three seasons in between runs with West Virginia.
Seider, along with offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, will have a big task on his hand in 2022 now that he s set to return to the Nittany Lions. Penn State’s running game was lackluster throughout the entire 2021 season. Despite having three players appear on the Doak Walker Award watch list prior to the start of the season, Penn State managed to play 13 games without having any player on the roster record a 100-yard rushing game.
Much of that can fall on the performance of the offensive line, but Seider will be responsible for doing what he needs to do to have Penn State’s running backs ready to not allow that to happen again. With Noah Cain and Keyvone Lee back in 2022 and with the Gatorade National Football Player of the Year Nicholas Singleton heading to campus in the Class of 2022, talent should not be a concern for Seider and Penn State. The concern will be the execution of the running game.
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