Texas football lost another assistant coach in the past couple of weeks, with running backs coach Tashard Choice leaving for the Detroit Lions on Feb. 13. Choice is taking the same role as the running backs coach with the Lions in the NFL early this offseason.
Who will replace Tashard Choice as the next Texas football running backs coach?
Choice had interest from multiple NFL teams this offseason. He had interviewed with the Dallas Cowboys for the same role as their running backs coach earlier this month. But he took the opportunity to work with former Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Alabama Crimson Tide running back Jahmyr Gibbs with the Lions' backfield.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns replaced the other departed assistant coach early this offseason, former safeties coach Blake Gideon, with ex-Rutgers Scarlet Knights cornerbacks coach Mark Orphey this week.
Orphey had a good word from former Texas co-DC/LB coach Jeff Choate for the Longhorns from when he coached the secondary with the FCS Montana State Bobcats in the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
So, where could the Longhorns look to find its next running backs coach hire early in the 2025 offseason?
OTF called Choice the toughest assistant coach departure to replace for the Longhorns in the past few offseasons.
Here are three early possible candidates for the Longhorns to target to potentially hire to replace Choice as the next running backs coach.
Carlos Locklyn, Ohio State running backs coach
Potentially, the top candidate on the shortlist early in the search for the Longhorns to replace Choice as the next running backs coach is Ohio State Buckeyes RB coach Carlos Locklyn. Fresh off a National Championship with the Buckeyes in the 2024 season, Locklyn helped put together one of the top running back rooms in college football with Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson for Ohio State.
Locklyn did a great job in his first year as Ohio State's running backs coach this past season. He's a good recruiter with an established track record of success recruiting and developing talent at the running back position, including as Oregon's RB coach in 2022 and 2023.
It also helps that many of the Longhorns' top running back targets on the recruiting trail in the 2026 and 2027 classes have established relationships with Locklyn, including 2026 high-four-star Javian Osborne and 2027 five-star Landen Williams-Callis.
Ra'Shaad Samples, Oregon running backs coach/assistant head coach
Oregon Ducks assistant head coach/running backs coach Ra'Shaad Samples is one of the young and up-and-coming stars in the college football coaching ranks. At 30 years old, Samples is one of the position coaches with really bright futures in football coaching at the collegiate/NFL levels.
Samples has coached for the Longhorns before during the 2018 season under former head coach Tom Herman. He was the assistant wide receivers coach at Texas in 2018.
As one of the truly elite recruiters who has many connections around the DFW area in North Texas, Samples would make a lot of sense in terms of his ability on the trail potentially as part of the Longhorns' staff if Sarkisian were to hypothetically hire him to replace Choice at RB coach.
Khenon Hall, Baylor running backs coach/associate head coach
Another up-and-comer in the college football coaching ranks from the state of Texas is Baylor Bears running backs coach/associate head coach Khenon Hall. Baylor's running back room had a lot of success this past season with Hall as the RB coach, including coaching 1,000-yard rusher Bryson Washington.
Hall, a native of Dallas, TX, is well connected in the DFW area around North Texas. He's helped to recruit multiple blue-chip in-state prospects who also held Texas offers to Baylor in the past couple of cycles, including four-star EDGE Kamauryn Morgan and four-star wide receiver London Smith.