The Los Angeles Rams have yet to announce their coaching staff for the 2020 season, as Sean McVay has taken his time assembling the group. After losing or parting ways with several coaches this offseason, including his running backs coach, defensive coordinator, special teams coordinator and strength coach, McVay has quite a few spots to fill.
He made his third big hire of the last few months last week by reportedly bringing in Thomas Brown as the team’s new running backs coach, replacing Skip Peete. Brown was the RBs coach at South Carolina in 2019 and the offensive coordinator for the Miami Hurricanes from 2016-2018, but this is his first NFL job.
Here are four things to know about the Rams’ new running backs coach.
He coached prominent RBs in college
Brown coached at three of the top programs in the country since 2014, making stops at Wisconsin, Miami and South Carolina. And at those schools, he helped develop and coach some of the better college running backs in each respective season.
At Wisconsin, he was Melvin Gordon’s running backs coach during his historic 2014 season when he rushed for 2,587 yards and 29 touchdowns on 343 attempts, landing him in the first round of the 2015 draft. Gordon’s 2,587 yards are the second-most in a single season in FBS history, only trailing Barry Sanders by 41 yards.
At Georgia in 2015, Brown coached Sony Michel and Nick Chubb, one of the most promising tandems in the SEC and all of college football before Chubb got hurt. That year, Michel had 1,136 yards and eight touchdowns, while Chubb had 747 yards on only 92 carries (8.1 yards per carry) in six games.
Michel went on to be a first-round pick in 2018, while Chubb was a second-rounder. They were selected only four picks apart.
He’s close with Todd Gurley
While Gurley left Georgia one year before Brown arrived as the running backs coach, the two are apparently close. That’s what Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports said when he reported that Brown was in line to be hired by the Rams.
Being former Bulldogs, it’s no surprise that there’s a connection between Gurley and Brown. They both played running back at Georgia, even though it was about a decade apart.
This bodes well for Gurley’s future with the Rams, even though it doesn’t guarantee he’s going to be on the roster in 2020. The fact that McVay hired a coach with ties to Gurley is a good sign, though.
He was a freshman All-SEC selection at Georgia
Brown played four seasons at Georgia, rushing for at least 700 yards in each season he played at least 10 games. As a freshman in 2004, Brown was a freshman All-SEC pick after rushing for 875 yards and eight touchdowns – which would stand as career-highs.
Brown also caught 16 passes for 150 yards, gaining a total of 1,025 yards from scrimmage.
He continues Sean McVay’s youth movement
To no surprise, Brown isn’t yet 40 years old. This is the third coach McVay has hired this offseason who has yet to hit that number. Brown is just 33 years old and has yet to coach in the NFL.
He joins Kevin O’Connell (34) and Brandon Staley (37) as recent additions to McVay’s coaching staff, continuing a deliberate youth movement by the 34-year-old head coach.
