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Coach Who Recruited Cam Newton to Florida to Join Staff at Big Ten Power

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Grant Bricker | Last updated Feb 14, 2025 8:02 PM ET

While Cam Newton is known for winning the Heisman at Auburn in 2010, he spent time with the Florida Gators before then.

Newton was recruited to Florida by former assistant Stan Drayton, who coached running backs for the Gators from 2005-07.

After two seasons with Florida, Newton went to the JUCO level and played for Blinn College. He became the No. 1 JUCO prospect and ultimately took his talents to Auburn, and the rest was history.

On Friday, On3's Pete Nakos reported that Drayton was heading to Penn State to become its next running backs coach. It is Drayton's first time being a running backs coach since his time with Texas from 2017-21.

Penn State is set to hire former Temple head coach Stan Drayton as its next running backs coach, multiple sources tell @On3sports.

More: https://t.co/2iOKcSHEcO pic.twitter.com/aLMlrUdblu
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) February 14, 2025

Before becoming an assistant again, Drayton was the head coach at Temple from 2022-24. He went 9-25 over three seasons and was fired by Temple.

Drayton coached running backs like Deshawn Wynn, Brandon James and Kestahn Moore at Florida.

Drayton will have some great running backs to work with at Penn State. Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen are returning for another season with the program in 2025.

Singleton and Allen had over 1,000 rushing yards and combined for 2,207 on the ground with 20 touchdowns.

Florida and Penn State had two very different seasons. The Gators finished the year at 8-5 after beating Tulane 33-8 in the Gasparilla Bowl.

Penn State made it to the semifinal round of the College Football Playoff in the first year of the contest's 12-team format. Penn State would eventually lose to Notre Dame, who made it to the national championship against Ohio State.

Drayton will have the opportunity to coach Corey Smith at Penn State as well. The Nittany Lions are bringing in talent through the 2025 recruiting class, such as three-star running backs Tiqwai Hayes and Jabree Wallace-Coleman.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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