Penn State football retains Deion Barnes as former Lions' graduate assistant moves into analysts role
Penn State football is retaining an important member of its coaching staff by moving him into a new role. Lions letterman Deion Barnes has maxed out his time as a graduate assistant after three years in that position. Now, he’s moving into an analyst coordinator job with the program, which keeps someone many believe is a rising star in the coaching industry inside of the Lasch Building for at least one more year.
“Coach [James] Franklin and Coach [John] Scott allow me to give input and coach the guys up,” Barnes told PhillyVoice in 2021. “I am at the bottom, but it doesn’t feel that way. I’m don’t consider myself an equal [to a fulltime coach]; obviously not. I do feel like I have a part to play in Penn State being successful, so as long as I’m doing that, and being a help to Penn State University, I’m good with it.
“I’m drawing cards, which is something everyone has to do, and doing the thankless jobs and working long hours, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. When the coaches leave, I have to do all of the quality control and charting plays. I’m learning a lot. At Northeast, I was just coaching the defensive line. Here, I’m learning everything on a daily basis.”
A pending NCAA rule that will allow analysts to participate in practice and pregame warmups activities if approved likely played a large role in Barnes decision to stay. He is frequently one of the first staffers out on the field for warmups with the defensive lineman and is active in practice, as well.
A Philadelphia native, Barnes was the 2012 Big Ten freshman of the year and played four seasons at Penn State before moving on to a brief stint in the pros.
Penn State 2023 staff takes shape
Penn State will have a slightly different staff in 2023. For one, it needs a new graduate assistant to replace Barnes. But, it also has a new receivers coach as Marques Hagans is in after Taylor Stubblefield was fired earlier this month.
The Lions also added Khalil Ahmad to their recruiting department this offseason. Other support staff additions are possible as head coach James Franklin continues bulking up his on- and off-field assistants.
“It’s about manpower in recruiting,” Franklin said last March.
“It’s about manpower in terms of when we’re breaking down film and when we’re watching tape that we have enough perspectives in the room and enough experience in the room, and then obviously it helps you also — it also helps you obviously in terms of manpower when it comes to game planning and those types of things.”
