On Monday, the Los Angeles Rams announced the hiring of Justin Lovett as their new head strength coach, replacing Ted Rath who departed to join the Eagles’ staff. It was a role that was vacant for some time, and while Sean McVay said he wanted to fill it before the combine, that timeline didn’t align.
Lovett doesn’t have much NFL experience, spending just four years with the Broncos from 2009-2012, but he does have connections to two Rams players.
While Lovett was the head football strength and conditioning coach at Western Kentucky from 2014-2016, he worked with Tyler Higbee, who the Rams drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. The two worked together during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, so their connection is obvious.
Before working at Western Kentucky, Lovett spent three years at Georgia from 2012-2014. Of course, Gurley was with the Bulldogs for all of those seasons, even though he only played six games in his final year due to a suspension and torn ACL.
Higbee and Gurley are both under contract for the 2020 season, but there have been trade rumors swirling about Gurley. The same was true about Higbee before he signed an extension last year, so he’s likely to stick around for next season.
If the Rams are attempting to put Gurley in the best situation possible, they’re doing a good job. New running backs coach Thomas Brown is also a former Georgia Bulldog and coached the running backs at Georgia in the past, though never with Gurley there.
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