Former Temple director of player personnel E.J. Barthel has been hired away by Penn State for a recruiting coordinator role, sources told NJ.com Friday.

The Owls originally hired Barthel in September 2016 as their coordinator of on-campus recruiting and changed his role soon after Geoff Collins replaced Matt Rhule as head coach once the latter left for Baylor. Prior to arriving in Philadelphia, Barthel worked two seasons at Rutgers, his alma mater, serving in a player development and recruiting coordinator role.

Sources have told https://t.co/fHVP0hcTcI that EJ Barthel has accepted a recruiting coordinator role at #PennState, and is leaving #Temple. https://t.co/fZrr7rKkaz — Tom Hanslin (@tomhanslin) March 24, 2017

A New Jersey native, Barthel played running back for the Scarlet Knights from 2003-05, then transferred to UMass for two additional seasons. A year after graduating in 2008, Barthel initiated a brief playing career with the UFL's Las Vegas Locomotives. He soon went on to trade his shoulder pads for a headset and patrolled the sidelines at New Jersey's DePaul Catholic High School in 2012 and Bergen Catholic in 2013 before moving to Rutgers.

Per NJ.com, Barthel recently helped land contributing Scarlet Knight freshmen Isaiah Wharton, Kiy Hester, Jawuan Harris, Blessuan Austin, Kevin Wilkins, Jim Hogan and Najee Clayton.

Penn State opens its 2017 campaign on Sept. 2 against Akron. Kickoff from Beaver Stadium is TBD.