Tag: Kiel McDonald

Kiel McDonald on Chargers’ running back duo of Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins: ‘It’s like Thunder and Lightning’

Kiel McDonald is excited about the running back tandem of Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins.

The Chargers will emphasize running the football. The new additions, Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins will predominantly be pounding the rock.

New running back coach Kiel McDonald is excited about the tandem of Edwards and Dobbins, who are well-versed in Greg Roman’s system, having played in it during their time with the Ravens.

“They have been playing this game for a while,” McDonald said of Edwards and Dobbins. “At the end of the day, the standard is still the standard. It doesn’t matter what it is.

“To have some veterans that have been successful, especially when they know the scheme, it pushes it in a positive direction,” McDonald added.

Edwards and Dobbins are different types of backs. Edwards is more of a bruiser with the size, strength, and physicality as a runner. Meanwhile, Dobbins is an explosive back with a skill set that features good elusiveness and pass-catching ability.

“It’s like Thunder and Lightning … that’s probably why they took those two guys in Baltimore,” McDonald said. “Having them here, they are very mature guys and mature men.”

USC football gets commitment from 2024 Texas running back

USC added a running back to a future class, creating needed depth.

Riley Wormley is a 5-foot-9, 170-pound running back from Southlake Carroll High School in Texas. He committed to USC football over the weekend. He held scholarship offers from over 20 schools, including Texas, Purdue, Oregon, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Baylor, SMU, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Ole Miss, and TCU. It was at TCU where Wormley had established a relationship with Anthony Jones. Jones was hired by Lincoln Riley as USC’s new running back coach when Kiel McDonald left for the Los Angeles Chargers job.

“Me and him are pretty close,” Wormley shared with 247Sports. “He was a real good mentor and someone I knew. I’ve been going to TCU camps for a long time and I’ve learned from him there. Going out to California and seeing what they had to offer, it was just something I couldn’t pass up on.”

Among the recent commitments to the Trojans’ 2025 recruiting class, Wormley is the seventh player overall and only the second player committed to the offensive side of the ball. Wormley joins quarterback Julian “JuJu” Lewis, who committed in August of 2023. Lewis made an unofficial visit to USC this weekend.

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Chargers hire Kiel McDonald as running backs coach

Jim Harbaugh’s staff now includes a plethora of coaches making the move to the NFL.

The Chargers are finalizing a deal to hire USC running backs coach Kiel McDonald in the same capacity on Jim Harbaugh’s staff, per Adam Schefter.

The move, in Schefter’s terms, comes as college coaches supposedly are looking towards the pros to avoid dealing with the NIL landscape. Harbaugh’s staff now includes a plethora of coaches making the move to the NFL, both coming with him from Michigan as well as other schools.

McDonald was the RBs coach at USC for three seasons. His main developed product, MarShawn Lloyd, could be one of the top 10 or so running backs picked in this year’s NFL Draft.

Prior to USC, McDonald had five year stops at both Utah and Eastern Washington. Former Utah RB Zack Moss is perhaps the most significant pro he coached during his time in college. Moss is a free agent that the Chargers could potentially sign this offseason as they reshape their running back room.

Under McDonald, Utah’s 2021 running backs averaged the second highest yards per attempt marks in the country and were 13th in total yards per game.

The 2024 Chargers’ offensive staff now looks like:

HC: Jim Harbaugh

OC: Greg Roman

Pass game coordinator: Marcus Brady

Run game coordinator/TEs coach: Andy Bischoff

Offensive line coach: Mike Devlin

QBs coach: Shane Day

RBs coach: Kiel McDonald

WRs coach: Sanjay Lal

Senior offensive assistant: Mark Trestman

USC running back coach Kiel McDonald leaves Trojans to join Los Angeles Chargers

Kiel McDonald will join Jim Harbaugh. Who saw that one coming?

Who saw this one coming? USC running back coach Kiel McDonald is leaving to join Jim Harbaugh with the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL. McDonald has done a really good job with USC’s running backs, cultivating MarShawn Lloyd this past season after a strong 2022 season in which Travis Dye was a star for the Trojans and a central reason the Men of Troy won 11 regular-season games.

USC’s running backs played well under McDonald’s guidance and teaching. Austin Jones filled in admirably for Dye after the latter suffered an injury late in the 2022 season. Other running backs such as Darwin Barlow and Quinten Joyner looked good in the limited action they received behind the top running backs in the room. USC’s story at running back could be summed up this way under McDonald: The starters were so good that the talented backups just didn’t get as many carries as they would like. The quality of coaching and player development was high. It’s just that there were so many mouths to feed that not everyone got enough carries. Barlow transferred to North Carolina precisely to get more touches at another school, an entirely reasonable move on his part.

It will be interesting to see where USC and Lincoln Riley turn to for McDonald’s replacement for the 2024 season.

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