Penn State football fills support staff role for second time this summer

For the second time in six weeks, Penn State football has hired an Assistant Video Director. This time, the Nittany Lions are adding Syracuse Football Video Operations Coordinator Blake Yunker to the program’s support staff.

“Excited to welcome Blake, his wife Madison, and son Jace to the Penn State football family!” Jevin Stone, the Nittany Lions Director of Coaching Technology, wrote on X Thursday.

Excited to welcome Blake, his Wife Madison & son Jace to the Penn State Football Family!
Welcome to Happy Valley Yunker’s 🤝🏾#weare https://t.co/CJkQG83gpB

— Jev Lee (@jevlee) July 18, 2024

Blake Yunker replaces Kyle Lane, who was hired from Georgia on June 8. Per Blue-White Illustrated’s Greg Pickel, who first reported the news, Lane left the position after less than a month for a role with the Carolina Panthers in the NFL.

The position originally became available this summer after Joe Loosemore, a five-year veteran of the Nittany Lions program, joined Manny Diaz’s staff at Duke.

The 2023 season was Yunker’s first at Syracuse, where he was in charge of filming and video processing for practices, games, and recruiting events, managining the video department’s budget, and coordindating staff, among other functions.

Yunker previously served in various roles on the Kent State staff – most recently as the program’s Director of Internal Football Operations – since 2021. He also spent two years at Temple and a season as a graduate assistant at Northern Illinois.

Yunker is a 2018 graduate of Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Penn State football taps ACC program for second time this offseason

Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

This is not the first time James Franklin and the Nittany Lions have looked north to the Orange to fill a vacancy this offseason.

In February, Penn State football rehired Khalil Ahmad as the program’s Recruiting Coordinator for Personnel and Recruitment after a two-month stint with Syracuse and new Orange coach Fran Brown. Before previously joining the Nittany Lions staff, Ahmad served as the Director of High School Relations at Syracuse.

As a member of the Penn State football staff in 2023, Ahmad helped Franklin and the Nittany Lions sign a top-15 recruiting class.

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