Penn State football is losing one of its key staffers.
Per a report by Ryan Snyder of On3Sports, Kenny Sanders is leaving PSU.
With the exception of a brief stint at Oregon (2020), Sanders was with James Franklin for the entirely of his decade-plus tenure in Happy Valley.
In April of 2022, Sanders became the program’s Director of Player Personnel, a position he held for four seasons.
Snyder reported that Sanders “was offered the opportunity to stay in State College, working alongside two other recruiting assistants from the previous staff, Alan Zematis and Naz Oliver. Now, that’s no longer the case.”
When Sanders was at Penn State, he helped Franklin and the staff become a force in recruiting the D.C. Maryland and Virginia area.
Sanders is a graduate of Maryland’s McDonogh prep, which produced future Penn Staters such as Dani Dennis-Sutton, PJ Mustipher and Curtis Jacobs.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Several of Penn State’s recruiting staff— which, per Snyder, had just four members in 2024 and had expanded to 14 by 2025– left with Franklin within days of him taking the Virginia Tech job.
Penn State Staffers Already Following James Franklin to Virginia Tech
Andy Frank, Rashad Elby and Chris “Slim” Mahon were among those who went with Franklin to Blacksburg.
Snyder also reported that staffers such as DJ Bryant and Rashad Rich weren’t retained by new coach Matt Campbell.
Zematis and Oliver are still on the staff, as is Director of High School relations Bob Palko.
As far as the new staff goes, general manager Derek Hoodjer was Campbell’s first staff hire at Penn State, and Campbell also brought Trent Slatenow (Director of Player Personnel) and Jake Griffith (recruiting assistant) with him to Happy Valley.
