Penn State assistant Josh Gattis leaves for Alabama

York Daily Record

James Franklin (right) has now lost three top assistant coaches since the end of the regular season. The latest is receivers' coach Josh Gattis to Alabama. First gone was offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead (left) who became the head coach at Mississippi State. Special teams coach Charles Huff quickly joined him.

One of Penn State's top recruiters and position coaches has left to join Nick Saban's staff at Alabama, according to reports.

Josh Gattis was the Nittany Lions' passing game coordinator and coached the team's receivers ever since following head coach James Franklin from Vanderbilt in 2014. Gattis is best known for developing one of the top receiving groups in the nation the past two years.

He coached All-Big Ten star Chris Godwin, who left early for the NFL after the 2016 season. He also tutored DaeSean Hamilton, who recently became Penn State's all-time leading receiver.

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Junior-to-be Juwan Johnson, expected to become the next receiving star for the Lions, will be joined by incoming freshman Justin Shorter, one of the top high school receivers in the nation. Gattis molded Johnson and recruited both.

Gattis is regarded as one of the top recruiters in the country. In 2015 he was named Big Ten Recruiter of the Year.

"If there's one coach who can relate to recruits ... the kids really connected with him," said Ryan Snyder, a recruiting analyst with Blue-White Illustrated.

Gattis will join Alabama's staff as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, according to FootballScoop.com.

Gattis' departure is just the latest in a tumultuous offseason for the Penn State coaching staff. Offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead left as soon as the regular season ended to become the head coach at Mississippi State — taking special teams coordinator and running backs coach Charles Huff with him.

It seemed as if Franklin could have promoted either Gattis or Ricky Rahne to run his offense next. He chose Rahne.

So Gattis now joins an Alabama staff that has played for the past three national titles, winning two of them.

Just last week Franklin looked to have finally filled out his staff by hiring David Corley as running backs coach. The former William & Mary quarterback had previously coached at Connecticut and Army.