After brief departure, Khalil Ahmad is returning to the Penn State football recruiting department
A former Penn State football recruiting staff member is returning to the Nittany Lions three months after taking a job elsewhere. Khalil Ahmad, who became the executive director of personnel and recruiting at Syracuse back in December, is now back in State College as an assistant recruiting coordinator for personnel and recruitment. It’s the same title he held in 2023 before moving, albeit briefly, to the ACC school. BWI’s Sean Fitz reported the pending move last week.
“Thank you to the entire PSU and State College community for welcoming me with warm arms,” Ahmad wrote on Twitter in December. “Happy Valley is a special place. Thank you to Coach Franklin for the guidance, mentorship, and knowledge in my time here. – working for you has been an honor.”
The honor is his again after things apparently did not work out under new Orange head coach Fran Brown.
“Appreciate Coach Brown and The Administration for the opportunity,” Ahmad wrote on Twitter on Feb. 8. “Nothing but love to the entire Orange community but I’ll be moving on to the next chapter of my journey.”
Ahmad has deep recruiting ties in New Jersey and throughout the Northeast. A Delaware State University alum, he broke into the coaching ranks at two high schools in New Jersey between 2019 and 2020. He later spent a year at Rutgers as a player development assistant before going to Syracuse in 2022. Ahmad then came to Penn State ahead of the 2023 season.
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Tracking Penn State 2024 staff changes to date
Penn State has now hired seven new analysts this offseason. In addition to Vic Hall and new special teams analyst Keith Bruno and defensive analysts Zach Terrill and Jeff McInerney, it also brought former graduate assistant Mark Dupuis back in an offensive analyst role earlier this month. He spent the last four seasons as the wide receivers coach at Old Dominion. Additionally, the program has added Bill Queisert and Thomas Allen in the analyst department. They came to Penn State with new coordinators Andy Kotelnicki (offense) and Tom Allen (defense), respectively. Analysts who have moved on include Ola Adams (now the defensive backs coach at Indiana), Rick Lyster and Gabe Infante (who took on-field roles with Manny Diaz at Duke), Calvin Lowry, who is now the running backs coach at Middle Tennessee State, and Eric Raisbeck, who is now the UC Davis special teams coordinator.
The Lions also lost briefly lost Ahmad from the recruiting department. He took a promotion at Syracuse but is now back at Penn State. Assistant recruiting coordinator for operations and visits Shannon Wellman has moved on, as well. She is replaced by recent Penn State alum Karsyn Kehler.
Penn State has had some on-field staff changes as well. The aforementioned Kotlenicki and Allen are replacing Mike Yurcich and Diaz, respectively. Stacy Collins is going back to Boise State. But, the Lions have hired Justin Lustig from Vanderbilt to replace him as the team’s special teams coordinator. Graduate assistant Bryce Jones is also moving on. He will be the new cornerbacks coach at FCS program Northern Iowa. Lions letterman Jordan Lucas slotted into Ahamd’s role briefly but is now taking Jones’ spot. Otherwise, the rest of Franklin’s 10-man assistant coaching staff is still intact as the offseason begins.
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