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Penn State adds assistant recruiting coordinator as NCAA quiet period begins

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•03/02/22•

GregPickel

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Penn State has added to its recruiting staff at the start of March. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

Penn State football has added an off-field staffer just as the calendar allows for recruits to visit campus again.

The university’s online athletics staff directory now lists Rashad Elby as an assistant recruiting coordinator. He’s now part of the team that works under director of player personnel Andy Frank.

Blue-White Illustrated reported last week that Penn State had listed a number of football job openings on its employment website. An assistant recruiting coordinator, offensive/defensive personnel and recruitment was one of them. That is now Elby’s title in the Penn State directory.

“It’s what we do on the field that’s important, but it’s also all the things that we do off the field that we’re willing to compete in everything year-round,” Franklin said in February. “We have got to be willing to compete year-round, because all the little losses that you have throughout the entire calendar year, those add up. All the wins that you have throughout the calendar year, add up. 

“We have to be willing to do those things in all areas year-round for us to have the type of success that we want to have consistently.”

Get to know Rashad Elby

Elby comes to Penn State with experience in multiple parts of the football world.

After playing at both Kent State and Hampton University, the latter of which he graduated from, Elby started his career in athletics as a graduate assistant at Millersville University. He then worked in Student-Athlete Affairs and Leadership Development at the NCAA before spending multiple years as a National Field Director for the NFL Regional Combines. From there, he coached running backs and defensive backs at Lock Haven.

Since 2017, Elby has been an assistant coach at Indiana high school football power Carmel. He has also worked in a football development role at USA Football since 2018 prior to coming to Penn State.

Penn State recruiting staff expands

Penn State has prioritized adding to its recruiting department since Franklin arrived in 2014 with Frank in toe. He has overseen the operation in State College ever since.

With Elby’s addition, the department currently includes:

Kenny Sanders – National Recruiting Coordinator
Destiny Rodriguez – Recruiting Coordinator for Operations & Visits
Caleb Tyler – Recruiting Coordinator for Marketing & Creative Content
Chris Mahon – Assistant Recruiting Coordinator – Offense
Alan Zemaitis – Assistant Recruiting Coordinator – Defensive Personnel and Recruitment
Hunter Carson – Assistant Recruiting Coordinator, Offensive Personnel and Recruitment
Rashad Elby – Assistant Recruiting Coordinator, Offensive/Defensive Personnel and Recruitment
Dann Kabala – Director of High School Relations

It’s not just high school recruiting that the group focuses on, of course. It also works on the transfer portal, organizes camps and visits, evaluates and sorts film, plus anything else that is needed to help Penn State recruit at the highest level.

The Nittany Lions can host prospects this week. But, with spring break on the horizon, most of the visitors coming to Penn State will do so during either the latter half of the month or in April with spring practice set to kick off March 21.

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