Report: Penn State to Hire Boston College Running Backs Coach Savon Huggins

Huggins spent the past four years with the Eagles, guiding BC to the second-best rushing attack in the ACC in 2023.

Boston College Athletics (bceagles.com)

Penn State is expected to hire Boston College's Savon Huggins as the program’s next running backs coach, according to Matt Zenitz and Chris Hummer of CBS Sports.

Penn State is expected to hire Boston College’s Savon Huggins as its new running backs coach, sources tell me, @chris_hummer and @TDsTake.

Has coached standout running backs at BC like Turbo Richard. Helped BC rank second in the ACC in rushing in 2023.https://t.co/y781TR7GTm pic.twitter.com/LRn4YEkLrx

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 8, 2026

Huggins, a Jackson, N.J., native who played college football at Rutgers, spent the past four years on the Heights.

In 2025, sophomore Turbo Richard, who transferred to Indiana on Jan. 4, recorded a career-best 749 rushing yards and nine touchdowns while adding 30 receptions for 213 yards through the air in 11 games. Senior Jordan McDonald appeared in all 12 games for the Eagles, generating 397 yards and four touchdowns with his feet, including two touchdowns as a receiver.

Two seasons ago, BC’s offense rushed for 2,163 yards and 24 total rushing touchdowns, averaging 4.1 yards per carry.

The running game amassed more than 166 yards per game, and former BC running back Kye Robichaux led the team with 744 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground, the most by a BC running back since 2019 by all-time leading rusher A.J. Dillon.

Running back Jordan McDonald contributed 53 carries for 361 yards and three touchdowns, and Richard — as a true freshman — recorded 278 yards on 55 carries with two touchdowns as well.

In 2023, Huggins helped the Eagles rank second second in the Atlantic Coast Conference in rushing, as BC accumulated 2,584 yards with a 4.71 yards per carry average.

That year, Robichaux totaled 780 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.

In 2021, Huggins developed former BC running back Pat Garwo III into an All-ACC Second Team selection and All-New England selection. Garwo had four 100-yard rushing performances and ranked as the No. 4 rusher in the ACC with 1,045 yards, becoming the 19th player in program history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.

Before he coached in Chestnut Hill, Mass., Huggins kicked off his coaching career at Somerville (N.J.) High School. He then interned with the Miami Dolphins and broke into the college ranks in 2020 as a wide receivers coach at Buffalo.

Huggins was an offensive assistant for Somerville, which went 32-3 between 2016-18 and won a state title in 2017. After his fellowship with Miami in the National Football League (NFL), Huggins returned to his alma mater, St. Peter’s Prep (N.J.), where he won a second state title as an offensive assistant.

Huggins spent four years at Rutgers as a former running back and earned his degree in economics in three and a half years. He suffered a season-ending injury in his senior campaign after notching 842 rushing yards, nine touchdowns, and 20 receptions in his first three seasons. He was named to the Big Ten All-Academic Team in 2014.

This offseason, BC head coach Bill O’Brien let go of former defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, wide receivers coach Darrell Wyatt, and offensive line coach Matt Applebaum, replacing them with Ted Roof (defensive coordinator), Joe Dailey (wide receivers coach), and Kurt Anderson (offensive line coach), respectively.

The Eagles also hired former player Kenyatta Watson from Auburn as the program’s next general manager prior to the opening of the transfer portal on Jan. 2.

O’Brien and Watson will now have to search for a new coach to steer the run game for the 2026 campaign and beyond.