USC hires RBs coach Anthony Jones Jr. away from TCU
A week and a half after losing running backs coach Kiel McDonald to the Los Angeles Chargers, USC has filled the position by hiring Anthony Jones Jr. away from the same position at TCU.
The hiring was officially announced Monday afternoon after being reported earlier in the day by multiple outlets.
The Trojans' coaching staff is again full, as head coach Lincoln Riley has now replaced five of the 10 assistant coaches from last season.
"Anthony Jones Jr. is a talented coach that will certainly contribute to our climb as a program," Riley said in a statement. "We welcome the Jones family to USC and look forward to having them as Trojans!"
Jones spent the last two seasons at TCU -- including a year on staff with Riley's younger brother Garrett Riley in 2022. That season, Jones coached future third-round NFL draft pick Kendre Miller, who rushed for 1,399 yards in helping the Horned Frogs to the national championship game.
Jones spent the previous four seasons coaching the running backs at Memphis, where the Tigers had four running backs drafted in a three-year period -- Darrell Henderson (third round) and Tony Pollard (fourth) in 2019, Anthony Gibson (third) in 2020 and Kenneth Gainwell (fifth) in 2021. In his first two seasons there, Memphis totaled 6,533 rushing yards and 78 touchdowns.
Jones was a wide receiver at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he earned first-team All-SoCon honors. After his playing career at Chattanooga, he spent 2007 as a graduate assistant coach with the Mocs and then spent six years coaching at his high school alma mater, Westwood in Memphis (three as head coach).
Jones takes over a USC RB unit that loses leading rushers MarShawn Lloyd and Austin Jones. Sophomore Quinten Joyner and redshirt freshman A'Marion Peterson, joined by veteran Mississippi State transfer Jo'Quavious Marks and incoming freshman Bryan Jackson.
McDonald notably recruited well in the state of Texas, where Joyner, Peterson and Jackson all come from, and the Trojans now again have a RBs coach with recruiting ties in the Lone Star State.