Victory Bell Rings
Fansided

Report: Penn State Football Promotes Deion Barnes to an Analyst Role

By Morgan Chapman

STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 01: Abdul Carter #11 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates after a defensive play against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first half at Beaver Stadium on October 1, 2022 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 01: Abdul Carter #11 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates after a defensive play against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first half at Beaver Stadium on October 1, 2022 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Penn State Football found a way to keep a key assistant coach around a little longer

It was first reported by Greg Pickel of On3 that Penn State Football would be promoting former graduate assistant Deion Barnes on their staff. Now, his title is “Offensive/Defensive Analyst & Analytics Coordinator” per Penn State Football’s staff directory on their website.

Barnes was born in 1993 and raised in Philadelphia, PA. He attended and played high school football at Northeast High School. Then, he went on to attended Penn State where he played outside linebacker from 2011 until 2014. In 2012, he won the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award.

After his college career, he went undrafted in the 2015 NFL Draft, but he still managed to be signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Jets. He was later part of the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad, and then in 2018, he was part of the Alliance of American Football. There he played for the San Antonio Commanders until April 2019, when the league disbanded.

Once his playing days were over, in 2020 he returned back to his Alma mater, this time as a graduate assistant. He was in this role for three seasons from 2020 until 2022. This is the maximum time allowed in the GA role per NCAA rules.

The challenge with retaining graduate assistants is there needs to be an available role for them to move into. Lucky for the Penn State Football team, there is a role which Barnes has now filled.
Barnes’ impact goes beyond coaching. Being born and raised in Philadelphia has made him a very valuable asset on the recruiting trail. Student athletes can relate much more to someone who has walked in their shoes, a guy who has made it and he grew up in the same neighborhood as they have. The connections that Barnes made in that area have already had an impact on the Penn State football team.

Some key members of the 2022 recruiting class were from that Philadelphia area: LB Abdul Carter, OT Drew Shelton, and JUCO transfer LB Tyrcee Mills. Then, in the 2023 recruiting class there’s Edge Jameial Lyons who also hails from Philadelphia. Hopefully this trend can continue with the 2024 recruiting class and beyond. Now as an analyst, you’d imagine he will be even more involved in helping secure recruits from that area.

Many believe that he is a young coaching star in the making. It is worth watching Barnes’ career unfold before us over the years ahead.

As they say, they best in PA stay in PA.

Home/Penn State Football