Report: Penn State closing in on adding new recruiting assistant
Penn State has added multiple recruiting staffers and analysts to its football staff in recent weeks. Now, another appears to be close to joining.
According to FootballScoop.com, Penn State head coach James Franklin is planning to hire Rashad Rich, who’s currently a regional scout for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian Football League.
A graduate of Bishop McNamara High School in Maryland, Rich then went to Bacone College in Oklahoma, where he played football and majored in physical therapy. He spent time coaching at the high school ranks before interning with the Chicago Bears’ scouting department. There, he worked with Ashton Washington, sister of current wide receiver Parker Washington. She was promoted to a full-time scout with the Bears in Aug. 2021.
Rich is the sixth analyst or recruiting assistant to join the staff since the start of February. Most recently, Rashad Elby was added to the staff to work under Director of Player Personnel Andy Frank. Blue White Illustrated’s Greg Pickel reported on that last week, and Elby officially announced his move today.
Link: Updating Penn State’s 2023 running back hot board
Elby played at Kent State and Hampton University. He then started his career in athletics as a graduate assistant at Millersville University before eventually coaching running backs and defensive backs at Lock Haven. After that, he became an assistant coach at Indianapolis powerhouse Carmel, where he coached current Penn State defensive lineman Cole Brevard. He also worked in a development role at USA Football.
Penn State also added four new offensive and defensive analysts prior to the recruiting staff additions. Former Nittany Lion great and NFL linebacker Dan Connor highlighted that group, but he was also joined by Rick Lyster, Frank Leonard and Gabe Infante.
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With the addition of Rich, Penn State’s entire football staff has now surpassed 40 members for the first time under Franklin’s leadership.
Penn State’s Recruiting Staff
Penn State’s recruiting staff is currently at nine members, with the tenth expected to be Rich. Back in December, Frank mentioned that adding to the staff remained a priority.
“Staff size has increased a good amount since we’ve been here and it still needs to continue to increase and that probably will never change,” said Frank. ‘We’re always going to have to keep growing and getting larger and better, more efficient as well.
“There is an arms race when it comes to staff and the staff size because you need the people, you need experts, people who have done it before to do it successfully. If someone else has a bigger staff with good employees, they’ve got an advantage on you. I think that’s why [Franklin] has faught so hard….The programs that that have the biggest army are the ones that are having the most success and we’re trying to do the same thing here.”
Link: Updating Penn State’s 2023 quarterback hot board
Below is Penn State’s current recruiting staff, with the expected addition of Rich.
Andy Frank – Director of Player Personnel
Kenny Sanders – National Recruiting Coordinator
Dann Kabala – Director of High School Relations
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
Rashad Rich – Title TBD
