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Penn State assistant Phil Trautwein makes On3 list of 30 rising stars in the coaching profession

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•08/23/23•

GregPickel

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Penn State offensive line coach Phil Trautwein. (Credit: Ryan Snyder/BWI)

Penn State assistant Phil Trautwein is one of the college football coaching industry’s rising stars, according to a list compiled by On3 senior national college football reporter Matt Zenitz.

“Each year, the goal for the lists is to identify top up-and-coming coaches around the country positioned for continued advancement moving forward,” Zenitz writes.

“In addition to the now current head coaches, there have also been other former rising star selections such as Ohio State’s Brian Hartline, Tennessee’s Joey Halzle and Iowa State’s Nathan Scheelhaase who have since moved into coordinator roles at those schools as well as plenty of other coaches who have since been hired by bigger schools.”

This year, Trautwein made the cut. The 37-year-old Voorhees, N.J., native enters his fourth season as the Nittany Lions offensive line coach and his 11th overall on the sideline. A two-time All-SEC pick and multi-year captain at Florida, Trautwein started coaching as a graduate assistant at Boston College in 2013 after a brief NFL career. He would later spend two years at Davidson. There, he was the tight ends coach and also spent a year as the school’s special teams coordinator. He’d return to the Eagles to be their offensive line coach for the 2018 and 2019 seasons before arriving at Penn State ahead of the 2020 slate.

Trautwein makes the cut thanks to recruiting and talent development at Penn State

Assistant coaches can make this list for any number of reasons. But, most do because they’ve proven themselves as both a capable recruiter and top-notch developer of talent. Trautwein lands in both camps, according to Zenitz’s reasons for including him on the list of 30 rising star assistant coaches.

“Aided by Trautwein, all five of Penn State’s starting offensive linemen from last season earned at least honorable mention All-Big Ten recognition, including All-American Olu Fashanu and third-team all-conference selection Juice Scruggs,” Zenitz writes. “Under Trautwein, Scruggs developed into a second-round NFL draft pick. Fashanu will be Trautwein’s next early-round pick as he enters the season with a legitimate chance to be a top-10 selection in next year’s draft.

“Trautwein has also been the lead recruiter on five current Class of 2024 Penn State commits, including top-100 defensive lineman Liam Andrews, after serving as the primary recruiter on the two highest ranked players from the Nittany Lions’ 2023 class.”

Trautwein is the third Penn State assistant to make Zenitz’s list in the last two years. In 2022, current Lions tight ends coach Ty Howle and co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach Anthony Poindexter made the cut.

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