Follow Coach Payne on Twitter: @CoachSCPayne
Recruiting Areas:
• Virginia (Richmond / West), South Carolina (Columbia / Florence) and Florida (Central)
Seth Payne begins his fifth season with the Elon University football team in 2023 after joining the staff as the defensive line coach in March, 2019. He is also the defensive run game coordinator and was named recruiting coordinator following the 2022 season.
The 2019 campaign saw Payne guide Marcus Willoughby to his best season with the Phoenix on the way to signing a free agent contract with the Baltimore Ravens in April 2020. During the year, the Durham, N.C., product posted 7.0 sacks to become Elon's FCS sack king with 16.5 throughout his career. He also dropped 13.5 tackles for loss on the way to being named a Second Team All-CAA Football honoree at season's end.
In the fall of 2021, Payne mentored a youthful defensive line anchored by senior captain Tristen Cox. The line contributed to seven of the team’s 19 sacks on the season and added 17.5 tackles for loss, 10 quarterback hurries, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. The unit led the way in allowing just 44 rushing yards as Elon defeated No. 25 Rhode Island to conclude the season, also giving up just 75 and 87 yards rushing in wins over Maine and New Hampshire. In fact, Elon went 5-0 when allowing an opponent to rush for 120 yards or fewer.
In 2022, the defensive line flourished. Regularly rotating eight or more players on the line, Elon ranked 13
th nationally with 2.83 sacks per game (34 total). The Phoenix had 11 in a 27-3 win over UAlbany and the defensive line played a large role in the team’s ranking of No. 19 in the country in scoring defense (allowing just 21.3 points per game). Senior Torrence Williams was the anchor, being named fourth team All-CAA by Phil Steele, but youth shined also. True freshman Cazeem Moore had 4.0 sacks and 5.0 tackles for loss. Shon Brown, Marvin Pearson, Josh Johnson, Jake Louro, Marvion Field, and Chuck Nnaeto were some of the contributors who assisted in allowing just 131.6 yards per game on the ground, the fewest since 2009.
Payne joined the Phoenix after a brief stint working as a defensive analyst under Mike Elko and Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M. Before that, he spent the 2018 season as the defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at VMI and was in charge of recruiting large parts of the state of Virginia as well as New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Prior to his stop at VMI, Payne spent three seasons as a graduate assistant with the defensive line at Wake Forest, working for Elko and head coach Dave Clawson. Ahead of his time at Wake Forest, Payne served as a defensive assistant at Villanova when head coach Tony Trisciani was the defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator Billy Crocker served as Villanova’s defensive coordinator in 2014 after spending time in multiple positions at Moravian College from 2012 to 2013. At Moravian, Payne acted as the team's defensive line and linebackers coach while also serving as the video coordinator across different parts of his two seasons with the team.
A graduate of Moravian, Payne was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and was a four-year member of the football team from 2008-11, earning All-Centennial Conference honors twice while serving as team captain in 2011. He graduated in 2012 with a degree in Accounting before going on to earn his Masters in Liberal Arts at Wake Forest in 2017.
What They're Saying...
Trisciani on Payne: “Seth Payne is a talented football coach who is highly organized, detail oriented and a great communicator. He takes pride in his ability to teach both the fundamentals and advanced techniques that are critically important on the defensive line. Seth is familiar with our 3-3-5 scheme from his time with Billy Crocker and I at Villanova, and he has experience recruiting in the Carolinas and Virginia from his time at Wake Forrest and VMI.”
|
Coaching Experience
|
| 2012-13 |
Defensive Line/Linebackers/Video Coordinator, Moravian |
| 2014 |
Defensive Assistant, Villanova |
| 2015-17 |
Graduate Assistant, Wake Forest |
| 2018 |
Defensive Line, VMI |
| 2019 |
Defensive Analyst, Texas A&M |
| 2019-22 |
Defensive Line/Defensive Run Game Coordinator, Elon |
| 2023 |
Defensive Line/Defensive Run Game Coordinator/Recruiting Coordinator, Elon |
