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HOUSTON — When T.J. Rushing graduated from Pauls Valley High School in the spring of 2002, he had a lot of ideas about what his future might hold, but coaching football wasn’t one of them.
Over the next six years, football would provide him with an education at Stanford and a Super Bowl title with the Indianapolis Colts in the 2007 season, but the nudge toward coaching didn’t come until the following year.
Rushing suffered a knee injury that ended his 2008 season with the Colts and he began to experience a new enjoyment from the sideline.
“I got just as much joy — or probably more joy — helping out the younger guys, trying to coach ‘em up, tell them what I’m seeing, and then they’d go out and make plays,” Rushing told The Oklahoman. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, this is something.’
“And then just the thought of not being a part of football, like, not being around ball — it had grabbed ahold of me. The older I got, the more and more I fell in love this game that’s done so much for me.”
More: Oklahoma State football faces uncertainty prepping for a Texas A&M team in roster upheaval
Texas A&M defensive backs coach TJ Rushing is a 2002 graduate of Pauls Valley.
Fifteen years later, Rushing is deep into a successful coaching career that has taken him from coast to coast at multiple major programs, and potentially a new destination in the near future.
Now 40 years old with a wife and three children under 12, Rushing currently serves as the defensive backs coach at Texas A&M, which will face No. 20 Oklahoma State at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium.
The Aggie coaching staff is in the middle of an overhaul, following the November firing of Jimbo Fisher and the recent hiring of Mike Elko as his replacement.
Regardless of where it takes him next, Rushing is appreciative of how far football…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/texas-m-assistant-t-j-113015460.html
Author : The Oklahoman
Publish date : 2023-12-25 11:30:15
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