Penn State head coach James Franklin made it clear Tuesday that he wasn’t on the lookout for simply anybody to fill the void left by Ja’Juan Seider, who took the identical position at Notre Dame final weekend.
“We’ve received to exit and get the easiest candidate we are able to,” Franklin said Tuesday, per 247Sports’ Tyler Donohue. “There’s a listing that’s most likely not as deep as individuals consider candidates that may come to Penn State.”
Drayton is a type of choose few coaches with a confirmed potential to develop top-tier expertise whereas sustaining robust relationships with gamers and recruits alike. He inherits a backfield that includes Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton, each returning after 1,000-yard dashing seasons.
Managing huge expectations in a operating again room received’t be new for Drayton — his monitor report speaks for itself. His listing of former gamers consists of Ezekiel Elliott and Carlos Hyde at Ohio State, Bijan Robinson at Texas, Jerious Norwood at Mississippi State and Brian Westbrook at Villanova. He additionally performed a job in recruiting Cam Newton and the Pouncey twins, Mike and Maurkice, to Florida, per his Temple bio.
Past teaching, Seider left huge footwear to fill in recruiting. He was named 247Sports’ 2023 Big Ten Recruiter of the Year, and Franklin burdened that trait was excessive on his guidelines for a alternative.
“It’s not the end-all be-all, however I feel after we can get anyone that’s from both the Northeast or the Large Ten footprint, that’s essential too,” he stated.
Drayton, with deep roots within the area and an extended historical past of top-tier recruiting, checks that field.
Franklin additionally emphasised the necessity for expertise with no decline in trajectory, a key issue that apparently set Drayton aside from different candidates. Whereas some choices might have had robust recruiting chops or participant growth expertise, few mixed each at an elite degree with the confirmed potential to win at powerhouse applications.
“You sort of discover that candy spot of a man that’s received sufficient expertise, each in teaching and in recruiting at this degree, that we’re going to get the return on our funding shortly,” Franklin stated. “That’s the exhausting half, discovering that candy spot… however not an excessive amount of that possibly they’re on the downward pattern of their profession as nicely.”
Drayton suits that mould. He’s coached at each degree, from the NFL to powerhouse school applications, and now, he steps right into a scenario at Penn State the place expertise is already in place. His job isn’t to construct from scratch — it’s to take an already gifted group and push it to championship caliber.
