Any Notre Dame football fan who was getting a bit nervous that something was about to go wrong in the Ja’Juan Seider hire can rest easy.
While the Fighting Irish continue to take a “mum’s the word” approach to their new running backs coach, Penn State head coach James Franklin officially let the cat out of the bag. During part of a Tuesday press conference, Franklin announced that Seider had “moved on” and gave a short speech talking about how much respect he has for the man that developed players like Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton.
“He was with us for seven years, did a great job for us,” Franklin said of Seider. “Very appreciative of Ja’Juan and his family. His son played for us, was part of our program for a long time. He has moved on, and we wish him nothing but the best. Again, seven years. In some ways, it's a shame that in college football, that's a long time, but gave our program and our community seven years and did a really good job for us, so we're appreciative of that.”
James Franklin confirms that Ja’Juan Seider is no longer with the program and thanks him for his work at Penn State: pic.twitter.com/9cyF7rfxId
— Joel Haas (@Joel_Haas1) February 11, 2025
Notre Dame football appears to officially have its man at RB coach
The question now is whether Seider can close the deal for one of the top Penn State prospects who seems to have indicated he’d follow the position coach to South Bend.
The timing of Messiah Mickens’ social media post on Monday night feels as though that was probably when Seider told the team and some of its top prospects that he’d taken the job with the Irish.
Ja’Juan Seider is both a great recruiter and someone who can develop talent. He’s someone who is replacing one of the better position coaches in the game. And he could benefit Notre Dame football almost immediately if Messiah Mickens follows him.