New Penn State special teams coordinator Justin Lustig talks recruiting territories, transfer portal approach
Penn State special teams coordinator Justin Lustig had plenty to say on Tuesday when he was introduced as the Lions’ latest assistant coaching hire. The Erie, Pa., native has coached all over the country, but his only stop in the Keystone State over the last decade-plus was at Edinboro, where he was the head coach of the PSAC school for a season in 2016.
Lustig said he ran the defense there, which will prepare him to also be the Penn State outside linebackers and nickels coach despite spending most of his career on the offensive side of the ball. And, he noted that he has long admired James Franklin and that the lure of being on his staff, especially thanks to his emphasis on special teams, was too good of an opportunity to turn down.
“The obvious reasons for me are personal from coming back home to being close to family and friends to being a part of this great university and this great, historic program and working with Coach Franklin,” Lustig said, noting little time elapsed between initial contact and his hiring.
“Going back to being a Pennsylvania guy, I think coach has done a phenomenal job tracking younger coaches. When he followed me on Twitter 10 years ago, I thought that was a really cool thing at the time. Our relationship goes way back. And, I’ve always followed him from afar and rooted for Penn State inside. So, excited to be here and work for him.”
New Penn State assistant Justin Lustig talks portal, recruiting
Lustig discussed more than his arrival and desire to return to his home state school. He also addressed his philosophies when it comes to the transfer portal and also revealed the recruiting territories he will handle while in State College. We’ll cover the last one of those two topics first.
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“I’ll be [recruiting] northwest Pennsylvania, my hometown, as well as northeast Ohio. My grandparents, they grew up there and I spent a lot of time with them there with the location of Erie and how close it is to Cleveland and Youngstown. And, New England will be another area for me that I’ve had a lot of experience, especially my time in New York at Syracuse.”
Lustig will also handle national recruiting for specialists and any other area the program needs him to. When it comes to the portal, he, like Franklin, does not believe Penn State needs to overly invest in it. But, it’s always an option. And, when it comes to scholarship specialists, they may be few and far between moving forward. But that’s always class- and talent-dependent.
“I think each university is a little bit different [with the portal],” Lustig said. “I’m feeling my way through that right now. But I think, number one, we’ve got to do a great job of recruiting the best specialists in PA. And at that position, historically, it’s very difficult to get a scholarship out of high school, even if you’re one of the best specialists.
“So I believe that we’re going to be able to recruit preferred walk-ons and do a really good job of getting really good walk-ons here that, down the road, can develop and compete for jobs. And if there’s a hole somewhere, the portal is always somewhere we can go out to and supplement our roster if we need to.”
