Penn State’s James Franklin has turned to a longtime coach who has a wealth of experience coaching running backs to oversee the Nittany Lions’ backfield in 2025, per report. Stan Drayton, most recently the former head coach at Temple,

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — In the days after the Orange Bowl, Penn State’s players gathered on campus for a team meeting. At that point in January, they found out defensive coordinator Tom Allen was leaving for Clemson and that James Franklin would do his part to hire the best candidate he could. The team’s season had just ended three days prior.

Penn State head coach James Franklin met with the media Tuesday afternoon to preview the 2025 offseason and winter updates. Franklin discussed several topics, including the Super Bowl, hiring Jim Knowles, winter conditioning, Ja'Juan Seider's departure and much more.

Seider, one of the top recruiters in college football, will be missed and veteran Penn State head coach James Franklin praised him Tuesday for his impact on the Lions’ program.

Penn State's James Franklin and Jim Knowles previously had discussed a job at Penn State. An early morning call two days after Ohio State's national championship began the process.

Franklin had talked to Knowles in December 2021 shortly after defensive coordinator Brent Pry, one of his longtime assistants, left Penn State to become head coach at Virginia Tech. Knowles wound up going to Ohio State and the Lions ended up hiring Manny Diaz, who enjoyed two very successful seasons before he became head coach at Duke.