Oregon football hires former NFL and ASU assistant Ra’Shaad Samples as running backs coach

Oregon wasted no time filling the opening on its football staff.

On Tuesday the Ducks announced the hiring of Ra’Shaad Samples as assistant head coach and running backs coach. He replaces Carlos Locklyn, who last week left Oregon for the same job at Ohio State.

Samples was in Eugene and on the job Tuesday morning for Oregon’s spring football practice.

“You can’t eat an elephant in one bite, so he’s gonna learn as quick as he can,” coach Dan Lanning said. “On his flight up he was watching installs on the plane. He’s getting ready to roll. It’s gonna be a lot of early mornings and late nights for him right now but I know that he embraces that and we’ll get him caught up as fast as we can.”

Samples was the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator last season at Arizona State and recently signed an extension with the Sun Devils through the 2025 season.

New Oregon running backs coach Ra’Shaad Samples talks with running back Jordan James during practice with the Oregon Ducks Tuesday, April 9, 2024, at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex in Eugene, Ore.

Before his time in Tempe, Samples, 29, was the running backs coach for the Los Angeles Rams in 2022 and the youngest position coach in the NFL. Prior to his pro gig, Samples was the assistant head coach and running backs coach at TCU in 2021, which followed three seasons at SMU where he was an offensive assistant with an emphasis on recruiting (2019), before being promoted to running backs coach and recruiting coordinator (2020) and then assistant head coach (2021). “We are thrilled to be able to add a coach of Ra’Shaad’s caliber to our program,” Lanning said. “Coach Samples is one of the brightest young coaches in all of football, and it is easy to see why he has had such a rapid rise through the coaching ranks. He is a dynamic personality who … will…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/oregon-football-hires-former-nfl-165340305.html

Author : The Register-Guard

Publish date : 2024-04-09 16:53:40

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