Penn State recruiting: Coaches talk message to prospects amid losing streak, intrigue of multi-sport athletes, more

Penn State assistants Anthony Poindexter and Ja’Juan Seider are veteran college football coaches who have been in the recruiting game a long time.

It’s why when they discuss the hunt for prospects and how they go about doing so, stopping to listen is a good idea.

Poindexter, the Nittany Lions’ safeties coach, and Seider, who handles running backs, were available in back-to-back week on calls with reporters. Both were asked to address messaging with recruits and also what they look for when looking for evaluating tape and resumes at their respective positions.

We break down their answers below.

Poindexter explains why safeties who play baseball catch his eye

It’s well-known that Poindexter is a College Football Hall of Fame member thanks to his tremendous on-field abilities at Virginia. But, did you know that he also played baseball back in the day?

That’s why the longtime coach loves to target a recruit who plays both sports.

“The baseball thing’s because I played baseball. That might be crazy, but it’s just the value of, you see so many guys that can’t track a ball, or take bad angles on the ball,” Poindexter said. “You know, most of the time, if a guy plays baseball, if he can see that little ball off the bat and be able to go track it down in the outfield, or track it down in the infield, it just shows he has good hand-eye coordination. Obviously, if he can hit a ball, he’s got hand-eye coordination. So, I kind of equate their ball skills to baseball.

“I might be the only one. But, I have really never seen a bad ball-skill football player that played baseball. Most of them know how to naturally catch, they know how to naturally track a ball. So, if they got that in their background, I’m not saying that’s the end all be all for me, but it really heightens my interest when a guy does play both.”

What else does Poinexter look for?

More goes into an evaluation, of course. The Penn State assistant also detailed that.

“It’s always been about athleticism,” Poindexter said. “I like guys to play multiple sports. At the end of the day, you want tough guys who understand how football is. They might not be able to explain it to you, but when you watch the tape, they can see openings, they can see the flight of the ball. Some guys just know. They just know how the ball will come out, where the ball is going. SO, as I’m watching recruiting tape, I kind of just look for those kinds of things.

“I’ve had guys that have been 5-foot-10 and had guys that have been 6-foot-2. Obviously, you got to have a certain height and weight criteria, I would say. But, overall,  you just look at the tape and see how they play the game. It’s still, at the end of the day, you got to play football.”

Seider on if the message to recruits changes as Penn State sits amid a losing streak

If you guessed this answer would be “no”, you are correct. Seider went further than that, though, during his call this past Thursday with reporters.

“I mean, the kids watch football,” he said. They know who we are, they see a good football team that fought hard last week and had a chance to win. They know what happened in the Iowa game. I mean, let’s be honest, man. Call a spade a spade. A healthy Sean Clifford in that Iowa game and Illinois game, it’s a different story, right?

“I know people don’t want to hear that, but that’s the freakin truth, and I’ll stick to it.”

Poindexter on how coaches continue to recruit despite a run of Penn State road games

Did Penn State have to do anything extra with electronic communication over the last month with just a single home game to host recruits at?

“No,” Poindexter said. “Coach [James] Franklin has a great plan. He had his plan before I got here. Obviously, because of all the great recruiting he’s done here, he has a great plan, great recruiting staff, great staff, coaches that understand what recruiting has become these days.

“We have a plan for bye weeks, we have a plan for when we’re on the road, and we have plan for when we’re here. So, recruiting 24/7 nowadays, constantly talking to recruits, talking to the coaches, talking to the people that are involved with making decisions. Coach has a great plan and if we follow the plan, we should be just fine.”

How do other sports help Seider recruit?

The running backs coach played off the baseball idea, too, but also uses athlete’s performance in other sports when looking for the next player at his position.

“For me, when I look at guys, I look at multiple sport guys,” Seider said. “Like, I got the kick returners. I love guys like Dex said, who played baseball, because you know how to locate balls. That ball coming down, the trajectory; you know how to see it, you know how to break up on it. You know how to be patient and wait for it.

“I love guys who play basketball. It helps you with your lateral quickness, be it a euro step or beating the guy off the dribble, because, at the end of the day, it translates to football. I use the same narrative when I talk about blocking. I love those things. At the end of the day, I love guys who run track, because that’s the one sport and I wholly believe that, my mom and dad coached track, where you by yourself. And yeah, it’s a team sport, but really it’s an individual sport where you get to compete.

“Sometimes, it ain’t about you just winning that race. It’s watching a kid compete. Does he strain? Does he finish to the end? You might be a football player, and you run in a heat where you got a guy who’s a [10.5- or 10.6-second runner], and you’re a 10.8, but you ran your best 10.8. Your 10.8 got to a 10.79.

“That guy is going to strain for you in the game. He’s going to make some happen. The moment’s never going to be too big for him. His will to win is something I really look for, too, so I think guys that run track have a unique experience and a background that you love because they just got a competitive nature about themself.”

Penn State returns to the field on Saturday when it takes on Maryland at 3:30 p.m. on FS1.