3 Potential candidates to take over as defensive coordinator for Penn State Football

Anthony Poindexter

Anthony Poindexter just completed his first season on the staff for Penn State Football, where he served as the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach.

Poindexter came to Happy Valley from Purdue where he held the same position and his immediate impact was felt for the Nittany Lions this season, as they boasted one of the best safety tandems in the country with Jaquan Brisker and Ji’Ayir Brown. Both took huge steps this past season. Brisker may even be a first or early second-round pick in this year’s NFL draft.

Poindexter has spent the last 19 seasons as a coach at Virginia, Uconn, and Purdue before Penn State Football and is a member of the college football hall of fame, inducted in 2020. He was a feared safety during his playing days at Virginia and won the 1998 ACC defensive player of the year award.

Promoting from within might be the safest way to keep the 2022 recruiting class together as we approach the early signing day and would most likely keep the system the same moving into next season and allow for a level of consistency we may not see if they hire from the outside.