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Penn State closed the books on its search for a new running backs coach by announcing the hiring of former Temple head coach Stan Drayton. Drayton’s time as head coach of the Owls was nothing to write home about, but his work as a running backs coach over the course of his career is considerably more encouraging as Penn State moves forward and prepares for the 2025 season.
Here are five things to know about Penn State’s newest running backs coach.
An Ohio native with Pennsylvania football roots
Stan Drayton was born in Cleveland and started his football career in the state as a high school running back, but he has some history in Pennsylvania at the college level. Drayton was a national championship running back for Allegheny College (1990 NCAA Division 3 national champions). He also left college as the nation’s top D3 rusher in history at the time.
Drayton joined the Allegheny coaching staff right out of college to be a running backs coach in 1993. Two years later he joined the Penn Quaker coaching staff and then spent the next four seasons (1996-1999) on the Villanova football staff, where he helped mold Brian Westbrook. It was during those years when James Franklin was coaching at small schools in Pennsylvania like Kutztown and East Stroudsburg.
Drayton coached Brian Westbrook during a historic season
As mentioned above, Drayton was an assistant at Villanova early on in his coaching career. One of the biggest names Drayton coached was Brian Westbrook, who went on to become a key member and one of the best all-time running backs for the Philadelphia Eagles. With Drayton as his position coach, Westbrook made history by becoming the first player in college football at any level to record at least 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season. He did so in 1998.
Stan Drayton helped to improve the Texas running…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/5-things-know-penn-states-223739719.html
Author : Nittany Lions Wire
Publish date : 2025-02-15 22:37:00
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