STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Marques Hagans’ entire coaching career has centered around his alma mater, as the former Virginia quarterback and wide receiver became a mainstay as a Cavaliers assistant coach for the past 12 seasons.
Now, James Franklin and Penn State are turning to Hagans as the Nittany Lions’ new wide receivers coach and offensive recruiting coordinator, the jobs previously held by Taylor Stubblefield. Penn State parted ways with Stubblefield on Jan. 15 after three years.
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“He is a veteran coach, whose experiences playing both quarterback and wide receiver at the highest levels will bring tremendous value to our program,” Franklin said of Hagans in a news release. “Marques has a proven track record of developing receivers throughout his career and has worked alongside many coaches I respect.”
Welcome to Happy Valley, @CoachMHagans! 🔵⚪️#WeAre | https://t.co/DyChH9iUhm pic.twitter.com/DV2O8M0mbb
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) January 23, 2023
Hagans became Virginia’s quarterback after Matt Schaub’s graduation and finished his collegiate career with 4,877 passing yards and 27 touchdowns. He was drafted by the Rams in the fifth round as a receiver and then spent 2006-10 in the NFL with Kansas City, Indianapolis and Washington before getting into coaching as a graduate assistant at UVa in 2011.
Current Penn State safeties coach and UVa legend Anthony Poindexter was on the Cavaliers’ staff when Hagans played and when he returned as an assistant. Poindexter remained at Virginia until heading to UConn in 2014. After joining the Nittany Lions in 2021, he was a candidate for Virginia’s head coaching job last year.
Hagans’ path to Penn State is the opposite of Stubblefield’s. A native of Yakima, Wash., Stubblefield bounced around to 10 jobs in 13 seasons. Hagans, a Hampton, Va., native has been at one place his entire coaching career, spanning three coaches staffs. He was named the Cavaliers’ receivers coach in 2013 and added the title of associate head coach in 2022 when he started working for Tony Elliott.
“It has been my most gratifying honor to coach at my alma mater, the University of Virginia for the past 12 seasons,” Hagans said in a statement. “UVa enriched my life to the highest degree as a student-athlete for four years and it was humbling to have the opportunity to teach and inspire young men for more than a decade thereafter. Charlottesville is a special community. For me, UVa was a dream come true.”
— Marques Hagans (@coachmhagans) January 23, 2023
Why did Franklin make a change now?
Nobody would’ve batted an eye if the Nittany Lions didn’t have any coaching changes, though it wouldn’t have been surprising if multiple members of the coaching staff were in demand elsewhere.
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It’s clear that Ja’Juan Seider and Terry Smith have been masterful. Manny Diaz hasn’t hidden his desire to one day return to being a head coach. John Scott Jr. has been a great addition. The list goes on and on for a team that went 11-2 and won the Rose Bowl. Penn State’s upward trajectory is apparent, and yet something must not have sat well with Franklin at wide receiver in his ongoing quest to take the next step.
During Stubblefield’s three seasons, Jahan Dotson blossomed into a first-round pick and Parker Washington flashed. He also landed a key transfer last year in Mitchell Tinsley from WKU. Still, Penn State spent much of the 2022 season waiting on a third receiver to step up, and it enters 2023 as a position group in transition as five-star recruit Drew Allar takes over at quarterback. Washington leaves not posting the kind of numbers that most probably expected in his junior season (46 receptions, 611 yards, two TDs, though his season was cut three games short by an injury).
“With Dotson last year, I was terrified of him,” one opposing defensive coordinator told The Athletic last week on condition of anonymity for competitive reasons. “I gotta be honest, the receiving corps this past year really didn’t seem incredibly problematic as we game-planned. Now, their tailbacks and their tight ends? That to me is what makes them go.”
The fact Penn State that needed to dip into the transfer portal for immediate help each of the past two years illustrates the issues Penn State faces. Stubblefield inherited a group that had Dotson and plenty of question marks after the departure of KJ Hamler. He leaves a unit that has some intriguing young talent but is largely unproven, with KeAndre Lambert-Smith (24 catches, 389 yards, four TDs) and Harrison Wallace III (19 catches, 273 yards, one TD) the only returning wideouts who caught more than 10 passes for the Nittany Lions.
The hope is that Kent State transfer Dante Cephas (145 catches in four years) and Florida State transfer Malik McClain (four-star recruit in 2020) will give Penn State the injection of experienced talent it needs to put Allar in a position to succeed.
During Franklin’s nine seasons, he’s signed 32 wide receivers (33 once Cephas signs and enrolls later this year). That group includes one five-star prospect (Justin Shorter), one four-star prospect who never made it to campus because he elected to play baseball (Lonnie White Jr.) and four players who arrived as transfers in hopes of filling immediate needs (Weston Carr, Norval Black, Tinsley and McClain).
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The results have been wildly inconsistent. This hasn’t been just a Stubblefield issue, but it’s part of the reason why Hagans is Franklin’s fifth receivers coach at Penn State. Of all those signees, a few players stand out (Chris Godwin, KJ Hamler, Dotson, Washington), but too many do not.
Counting Cristian Driver, who is slated to work full-time with the receivers in his second year, Penn State signed five receivers in the 2022 class. It’s too soon to know what Penn State has in the current crop of young receivers, a group headlined by top-60 signee Kaden Saunders, who saw only limited action in his first year.
How they pan out is now out of Stubblefield’s hands.
Marques Hagans was Virginia’s starting QB in 2004 and ’05. (Jeff Gross / Getty Images)Recruiting ties
It has to be tough for Virginia fans seeing Poindexter and Hagans trying to bring more players from the talent-rich state to State College after Penn State signed six of the top 10 players there in the Class of 2023, including four-star receiver Carmelo Taylor. Life for Brent Pry and Virginia Tech just got a little more difficult too as Penn State stakes an even bigger claim in the region.
Hagans will have to hit the ground running in taking on the role of offensive recruiting coordinator, an important job once held by Josh Gattis, Tyler Bowen and Stubblefield. The good news is he’s firmly entrenched in the region and Penn State has established recruiting momentum after back-to-back stellar classes and that Rose Bowl win.
It will surely be a little weird at first as Hagans for the first time in his life can’t pitch his alma mater to prospective players. But the Penn Sate brand, the strength of the program and the successful 2022 season should make this a smooth transition for all involved. It can’t hurt that Terry Smith, who holds the role of defensive recruiting coordinator, continues putting on a masterclass, most recently with helping the Nittany Lions secure a verbal pledge from Cephas, and Seider has been one of the nation’s best recruiters on offense.
Quick hits
• Hagans’ most productive receiver at Virginia was Olamide Zaccheaus, who from 2015-18 had 250 receptions for 2,753 yards and 22 touchdowns. Hagans also coached Hasise Dubois, who caught 75 passes for 1,062 yards and six touchdowns during his last season at Virginia in 2019, and Dontayvion Wicks, who had 1,203 yards in 2021.
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More recently, wide receiver Billy Kemp caught 192 passes for 1,774 yards and eight touchdowns in 43 games. Kemp entered the transfer portal last month and will play his final season at Nebraska.
• Hagans’ nickname is Biscuit. Where does it come from?
“It’s a secret,” Hagans said during an appearance on the “Mike Safo Podcast” in 2019. “Only about three people know.”
• Hagans is no stranger to Pennsylvania. His wife, who played basketball at Virginia, is from Swarthmore, Pa. Hagans also has a special connection to one of Philadelphia’s most iconic athletes.
“Growing up one of my best friends was AI so going to Philly was nothing. I’d be in Philly all the time,” Hagans said on the podcast. Iverson also hails from Hampton, Va. “That’s one of my best friends.”
• Life after Hagans’ football playing days came to an end meant he needed to find another outlet to stay in shape and remain competitive. He took up running and then kept stacking miles until he got into distance running, as he described on “Pace the Nation.” That hobby took off during the pandemic in 2020, as regular runs around Charlottesville turned into running a marathon by himself. Hagans ran the 26.2 miles one morning and afterward went to coach football practice.
(Top photo: Michael Allio / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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