For Seider, Nittany Lions' blank slate at running back brings excitement
Ja’Juan Seider’s enthusiasm is unbridled.
Entering his second season as Penn State’s running backs coach, the 42-year old has a blank slate at his position in advance of the 2019 season. Gone are two high NFL Draft picks in Saquon Barkley and Miles Sanders, leaving behind four scholarship backs with, at most, two seasons of experience in the program.
And he wouldn’t want it any other way.
“This is what makes it fun when you get a bunch of young guys, they're all super-talented and they're all eager,” said Seider. “That's what you want to coach.
“The buy-in product is there. They want to be coached. When they’re out, they’re standing next to me asking the next question. ‘Hey Coach, what do you think about this?’ That's what makes me excited.”
True sophomore Ricky Slade returns to the position following a debut season in which he finished third on the team in carries (45), rushing yards (257), and rushing touchdowns (6). Further, although he didn’t meet the threshold to earn a national ranking (10 carries per game in 75 percent of his team’s games), Slade’s 5.71 yards per carry demonstrated a flash of potential the Nittany Lions are anxious to see in the season ahead.
Setting expectations through the course of the spring that the Nittany Lions will use three backs this season, however, Seider cautioned at the program’s media day Saturday that Slade has company this preseason in the form of redshirt sophomore Journey Brown.
“He had as good of a spring as anybody here. As much as we want to say it's Ricky's show, I wouldn't say that,” said Seider. “I mean, there's a wide-open competition. Those guys are gonna push each other every day. He's gonna play, and he's gonna play a lot.”
Meanwhile, two true freshmen in midsemester enrollee Noah Cain and Devyn Ford are also vying for Seider’s attention this month.
Extolling Cain’s performance in the spring, noting that he earned the respect of his teammates and, more importantly, the Nittany Lions’ elite defensive unit, Seider has seen the Baton Rouge, La., product continue to put his head down and work. Arriving this summer, Ford has already shown his “elite movement skills” and could also make an impact in Penn State’s backfield this season.
Collectively, Seider added that he’s been pleased by the progress he’s seen from the group at the start of preseason practice coming off the spring and summer workouts.
Hoping to help instill both confidence and fun in the group, a combination of traits he wants to see on the field in the form of an inspired cockiness, Seider believes the right amount of swag will manifest itself with the right mindset.
“Swag is being prepared. Swag is going on the field and, understand, I'm the baddest son of a gun on this field,” said Seider. “Whether you are not, you better make yourself believe it because it's a mindset. All it is is a mindset.
“Are they finished? No, not by a long shot. But the way they carry themselves, the way that you see them take steps from last season to spring, up into fall, they're starting to get that way.”