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Penn State moves graduate assistant David Parker into an analyst role

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•05/24/23•

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Penn State football sought additional analysts to add to its support staff this offseason. One of them comes from within the program.

David Parker is now one of the numerous analysts within the Lions’ program. He moves into that role after spending the 2021 and 2022 seasons as a graduate assistant who focused on the wide receivers and offense at large.

Prior to that, he spent the 2020 season as a special teams graduate assistant at Nebraska. Before stopping in Lincoln, he spent five seasons in various off-field roles at Arkansas. The Razorbacks alum would then spend two seasons at Minnesota in a defensive quality control role before taking on the same responsibilities, except on offense, at Miami for one year. He did cross pass with current Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz in Coral Gables, but only for a season before moving on to become a defensive analyst at UNCC. That led him to the Cornhuskers, and now his multi-year stint in State College.

Penn State has grown its analysts department

Penn State now has at least 11 analysts. When Franklin started, the Lions had none listed in their staff directory. That was not completely uncommon in 2014. It certainly would be today as schools continue to add bodies to handle everything from the transfer portal to advance and self scouting and recruiting tape review, among other things, to find any edge possible.

“In terms of what they are able to do, it’s all the behind-the-scenes stuff,” Franklin said when asked what his analysts do. “It’s hard for me to answer that question specifically. Because, it’s not like you lose someone and you take that next person and just plug them in. It’s based on their experience.

“So like what [former Penn State and current Alabama off-field staffer Ken Whisenhunt] was able to do and what [former analyst] Coach [Danny] Rocco was able to do was based on their experience as head coaches as well as defensive or offensive coaches. “So depending on who you hire, you’re making your decision based on their job description and their responsibilities to take advantage of their skills.”

Besides Parker, the Lions have also added Eric Sachse as a special teams analyst. And, letterman Calvin Lowry is back as an analyst on offense. Other new hires are expected before the 2023 season begins opposite West Virginia on Sept. 2. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on NBC at Beaver Stadium.

Another new GA is needed

With Parker moving into an analyst role, Penn State will have three new graduate assistants this offseason with only Bryce Jones, who works with the secondary, back from last year’s group. Torrence Brown replaced Deion Barnes, who is of course still in State College. And, Chris Seh takes the spot of Dwayne Scott. He left his graduate assistant role that focused on the offensive line at Penn State to go to Pitt.

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