Penn State football brings back former staffer with NFL experience as an analyst, shuffles pair of in-house roles
Penn State football spring practice is a week away.
The Nittany Lions have spent some of the time leading up to the start of drills making new staff hires. Another new one is in.
Charles Walker, a former recruiting department staffer under head coach James Franklin, is now listed in the school’s online directory as a Football Defensive Analyst and Analytics Coordinator at Penn State. Walker’s Twitter bio also lists him as the assistant running backs coach.
Walker spent his playing days at Massachusetts. There, he was a two-time all-conference selection and landed on the Minutemen’s all-decade team. His coaching career started at Nichols College, continued at Vanderbilt in 2012 and 2013, and then led him back to his alma mater. There, he started with the linebackers and eventually became the special teams coordinator. Walker would later come to Penn State as its assistant recruiting coordinator for personnel and recruitment on defense for two years before becoming a football analyst with the Atlanta Falcons.
Now, Walker is back at Penn State.
Bulking up off-field staff a top priority
Franklin has made bulking up his off-field staff a priority this offseason. Schools across the country, including Penn State, continue adding analysts and recruiting department staffers in bulk. Besides Walker, the Lions also hired Dan Connor, Gabe Infante, Frank Leonard, and Richard Lyster in analysts roles.
Penn State also added Rashad Elby and Rashad Rich to its recruiting department. More hires are expected prior to the start of the 2022 season.
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“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.”
Two returning Penn State staffers have new titles
A pair of off-field staffers have new roles for Penn State football.
Destiny Rodriguez, who is an integral part of the program’s recruiting efforts, has long been the program’s Recruiting Coordinator for Operations & Visits. She is now the Director of External Operations for Football. According to a job posting, some of what Rodriguez will now do includes organizing travel for all sorts of Penn State football needs, accompanying Franklin to various engagements, and acting as a liaison to numerous interuniversity departments.
Another longtime recruiting department staffer, Dann Kabala, also has a new title. He previously was the Directory of High School Relations and also spearheaded the program’s transfer portal recruiting efforts. Now, he is the Director of Football Player Relations. One of his primary tasks in that role will be to “Direct the educational efforts for Penn State Football Name, Image and Likeness with donors, alumni, fans, etc; Be the main point of contact for football student athletes and parents,” according to a job posting.
Blue-White Illustrated’s Ryan Snyder contributed to this report.
