Wednesday wasn’t a typical signing day for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions signed their entire 2020 recruiting class, all 27 players, during the early signing period in December. Coach James Franklin said they received interest from several recruits after that, but with 27 being a large class as it is, Penn State opted to settle down with the recruits who already committed and move on from there.
So, while for many programs Wednesday was about wrapping up the 2020 class, the Nittany Lions were introducing some different kinds of arrivals.
Along with Franklin, Penn State’s three new assistant coaching hires — offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield and offensive line coach Phil Trautwein — met with the media for the first time with the Nittany Lions.
All three have been hired in the last month or so, and while that’s not nearly long enough to get a full grasp of their personnel, all have spent their time doing their best to get to know players, coaches and parents.
“I have all my guys once we hire them, if we have the ability to, still go visit the homes and the schools of all of our new players. But then I also think it's really important that they call all the parents of our current players to introduce themselves,” Franklin said. “And that relationship is critical because we're all working to pour our hearts and souls into these young men.
“So far, so good. I've gotten great feedback from all the parents. I've gotten great feedback from our current players, and the same thing with our coaches.”
As for the coaches themselves, and how exactly Franklin settled on them, the answers vary individually, as will their own styles and concerns now that they’re here.
Ciarrocca wowed Franklin in a hands-on way. As the former offensive coordinator at Minnesota, he and the Golden Gophers ruined the Nittany Lions’ then-undefeated record on Nov. 9, beating Penn State 31-26 and accumulating 460 yards of offense in the process.
So when former Nittany Lions OC Ricky Rahne moved on to become Old Dominion’s head coach, Franklin looked to Ciarrocca. He said he was looking for someone who could bring an innovative mind with him while maintaining flexibility to keep the things that have worked for Penn State in the past.
“We’ve been working really hard at that since we get off the road recruiting,” Ciarrocca said. “Building and merging the two systems, taking the things that I’ve noticed they’re already doing here, that they’re doing very well, that I think that would really complement and add to the system of what we have done at Minnesota. Ultimately, it’s about, ‘What do your players do best?’ Accentuate their strengths, limit their weaknesses. That’s something that I’ve always been able to do no matter where I’ve coached at, and I’m excited about doing that here.”
Trautwein was hired shortly after Ciarrocca, but his connection to the Nittany Lions was much less obvious. He didn’t know Franklin. He didn’t even know Penn State was interested in him until Franklin began calling people who knew Trautwein to ask about the then-Boston College offensive line coach.
On his end, Trautwein was interested from the start. He grew up in New Jersey, rooting for the Nittany Lions. He attended camps there and longed for a scholarship offer that never came. So, instead, he walked on at Florida, won two national championships, then played in the NFL. With all of that, Trautwein has the story and resume that can earn the trust of recruits and players alike. Plus, that desire to come to Penn State never left him.
“Growing up, it wasn’t Rutgers, it wasn’t Boston College, it wasn’t Pitt, it wasn’t any of those schools,” Trautwein said. “It was Penn State. Penn State was the dream school. That’s what people said, and it was actually my dream school. So now to be able to be here coaching, it’s awesome. It’s where I want to be.”
Stubblefield shares that sentiment, but in a more roundabout way. The Nittany Lions are his eighth team in the last 10 seasons. Similarly, Penn State has gone through wide receivers coaches in the last five seasons, with Stubblefield being the fifth.
Franklin didn’t make Stubblefield promise to stay around for a certain number of seasons, but both parties wanted stability, and both sides hope they’ve found it.
“The biggest thing that I can take out of this is I know I’m not ready to be an offensive coordinator,” Stubblefield said. “So if I get to Year 4 or 5 and that opportunity comes, and I feel confident, because here’s the deal, I don’t want to go some place and call the plays and they bring a blitz, and I have no idea, or it’s 4th-and-1 and I’ve got to call a run play, and I don’t know what to call. So when I talk about the self-awareness of not going somewhere, I’m definitely not going to a place to be a wide receivers coach when I could be the wide receivers coach at one of the best programs in the country.”
With all of these introductions, there is still another to be made at some point in the future. Franklin still has to hire somebody to replace defensive line coach Sean Spencer, which Franklin says he hopes will be wrapped up in the near future.
Beyond that, though, it’s about getting the new coaches accustomed to their new players at their new job. While that’s an important task, it still made for a relatively straightforward signing day.
Mike Persak: mpersak@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDPersak
First Published: February 5, 2020, 10:00 p.m.
