Andrew Seumalo is in the midst of his eighth season as a defensive coach on College Hill and his third under head coach John Troxell. In 2022, he took over as the program's recruiting coordinator and moved to coaching the outside linebackers after overseeing the defensive line. For 2025, Seumalo will coach the inside linebackers.Â
After the graduation of Billy Shaeffer, Seumalo relied on seniors Tim O’Hearn and Semaj Cross to fill the void. Together, O’Hearn and Cross tallied 87 tackles, eight and a half tackles for loss and four sacks. O’Hearn collected 5.5 tackles for loss and three sacks while forcing a team-leading three fumbles. Cross started 11 of 12 games at the OLB position, ringing up 40 tackles to go along with one interception and one forced fumble.
The 2023 season saw the Leopards lead the conference in scoring defense, rushing defense and red-zone defense. Shaeffer turned in a stellar final campaign under Seumalo's tutelage. He led the team with 83 tackles for a Patriot League-best 21.5 TFL and 10 sacks, good enough for 10th in the nation. Shaeffer was one of three national finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award, which is doled out annually to the national defensive player of the year. Shaeffer, an All-Patriot League First-Team honoree, earned All-America status from the Associated Press and Stats Perform.
Seumalo oversaw the development of Malik Hamm '23 into one of the top defensive players in the conference and the nation. The five-time All-Patriot League selection graduated as the school's career sacks leader. In 2022 Hamm led the team in sacks for the fourth time in his career, ending the season with 8.5 sacks and 32 for his career. Hamm was also selected as the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year for the second time in his career, the first being in 2019. As a team, the 2022 Leopards finished second in the Patriot League in team defense (21.7 ppg) while leading the conference in rushing defense (111.0 ypg).
Following the 2021 spring season, Hamm was named to the Stats Perform FCS All-America Second Team and All-Patriot League First Team, helping the defense limit its opponents to 63.3 rushing yards per game. Damon Washington joined him in achieving all-league honors after leading the team in sacks (4.0) and tackles for loss (4.5).
Hamm was the 2019 Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year and joined fellow defensive lineman Keith Earle '20 on the All-Patriot League teams. Hamm led the team with 11.5 tackles for loss of 55 yards and 8.0 sacks for a minus-47 yards. In 2019, he recorded at least one sack in each of his final seven games, finishing with 7.5 TFLs and 7.0 sacks in league, while ranking 10th among all active FCS players with 0.72 sacks per game during his career.
In 2018, Hamm was tagged as the Patriot League Rookie of the Year while also securing All-Patriot League Second-Team honors. Hamm played in 11 games with nine starts, leading the team in tackles for loss (15-59) and sacks (8.5-46) while finishing fourth on the team in tackles (58). Hamm finished second in the Patriot League and 18th in the FCS in sacks (0.77/game) and third in the Patriot League and 27th in the FCS in tackles for loss (1.4/game).
Seumalo came to Lafayette by way of Nebraska where he was a graduate assistant under head coach Mike Riley during the 2017 season. He worked with the Huskers' defensive line and helped guide a transition from a 4-3 to a 3-4 scheme.
Prior to Nebraska, Seumalo spent the 2016 season as a graduate assistant coach at Arizona State, where his father, Joe, was the defensive line coach. He served in a similar role at his alma mater, Oregon State, in 2015 and was a student coach in 2014 alongside his father in the final year under Riley. His father is currently the defensive line coach at Arizona University. Seumalo is the oldest of five and his brother, Isaac, plays offensive line for the Pittsburgh Steelers and his brother, Noah, played football at Oregon State.
Seumalo also played for Riley at Oregon State. Originally a walk-on with the Beavers, Seumalo was a four-year letterwinner at OSU from 2009 to 2012, earning a scholarship as a senior, when he also served as a team captain. Seumalo ended his career with 23 straight starts.
He was honorable-mention All-Pac-12 as a senior and was also named to the Pac-12 Academic Second Team after twice earning honorable mention status. He graduated in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in finance.
In the summer of 2024, Seumalor participated in the NFL's Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship with the Washington Commanders.
Updated 4/25
